Fairy Tail: By Your Side
by wolvesfinalden
Summary: Life is full of surprises and dangers. Lucy knew that the moment she joined Fairy Tail but she didn't realize the hardest part is letting someone else in. For the longest time it was only her and her wolf Duke but now another mage has come into her life, Natsu Dragneel. What will it take for them to realize just how much they love each other? NaLu
1. Prologue: Beginnings

**Fairy Tail: By Your Side**

**Prologue: Beginnings**

"Lucy! Come here honey we have a surprise for you!" a soft voice called out.

A little blonde girl ran down the hall greeted by her mother and father. She looked around wondering where her surprise was.

"What is it mommy?" she asked with excitement.

"Look in the box sweetie." She told her daughter.

Lucy cautiously walked over to the box and slowly opened it. Before she got the lid off, it was pushed off by a little nose. Lucy squealed with excitement at what she found in the box.

"Mommy! Daddy! It's a puppy! Thank you!"

She reached in and picked him up. He had snow white fur and piercing gold eyes. Lucy hugged her new friend, thinking he was so perfect and beautiful.

"Come on Lucy. I need to talk to you a moment." Her mother said leaving the room.

The little girl followed as she walked away, her new pet quickly followed behind her. Her mother led her all the way to her own room. She sat down on Lucy's bed motioning for her daughter to sit beside her. Lucy followed and sat up on the bed beside her mother. The white canine came and sat in front of Lucy on the floor, staring up at her mother.

"Now Lucy, this is Duke, he is a very special creature. He's not a dog, he's a wolf, a magical wolf. Take good care of him and he will protect you. However Daddy can't know what he is, so between the three of us Duke is a husky puppy, okay Lucy?"

Lucy nodded and smiled at Duke. He stared at her with his tail wagging furiously. She giggled and hugged the wolf pup again. The looked to her mother.

"Why can't daddy know?"

"Daddy isn't comfortable around anything magic. He wants us to live the life of a wealthy family, so that's why it's important that this stays between us."

Lucy nodded again, knowing how important it was to keep this secret. She didn't want to lose her new friend and she wasn't planning on it.

"What kind of magic does he know Momma?"

"Assissting magic to start but as he grows older, he will gain new powers. These powers are tested by the bond between the mage and the wolf. The closer you two are, the more powerful Duke will become. I'm not entirely sure what other magic he will be able to learn but that will just have to be something for you two to discover on your own."

"Okay mommy, I promise to take good care of Duke."

Lucy watched her mother as she moved to the wolf pup. Duke turned to face her as she put a hand on his head.

"Duke, protect her well. She'll need you by her side, can you do that for me?"

Lucy watched as the wolf nodded and licked her mother's hand. Duke then walked over to her and laid into her lap.

"Time for bed now." Her mother said.

She picked Duke up and put her daughter to bed. Duke then started to squirm in Layla's arms so she put him down on her daughter's bed. Duke quickly made his way to Lucy and laid down beside her putting his head on her stomach.

Layla smiled and left the room, shutting out the light, whispering goodnight to the two before leaving. She knew she would not be here on Earthland for much longer, so this gift made her feel at ease.

_'Duke, I'm counting on you to protect my daughter. I know she won't stay here and live the life her father wants her to. Be her guide to a happy life, one where she can choose to be a wizard or not. And if she does choose the path of a wizard Duke, protect her, train her, become strong together. That is all I want. For my Lucy to be happy, no matter where the road takes her.' _Layla thought as she made her way to her own bed for the night, not realizing that these would be her final thoughts.

**I hope you enjoyed the prologue! This is a new story I've been working on and I hope you all enjoy it! I'm sorry I haven't been updating but a lot has happened to me but I'm back and alive and well. So hopefully more updates for other stories and new stories to come very soon! Thank You!**

**~wolvesfinalden **


	2. Chapter 1: Welcome to Fairy Tail!

**Fairy Tail: By Your Side**

**Chapter 1: Welcome to Fairy Tail!**

Lucy Hearfilia and her white wolf, Duke, made their way through the city of Magnolia. They had been traveling for a week now in search of a wizard guild, and a new place to live.

Duke walked in front of his master, a habit the wolf picked up over the years. Always standing in front of Lucy or leading the way as they walked. That was always his way of protecting his beloved master, his friend.

"Well Duke I'm glad mom left us a secret vault with a lot of jewels, otherwise I don't think we could afford a place to live." Lucy said to her partner.

He nodded in agreement at her words. He remembered her mother fondly, she was the one who found him years ago and finally gave him a new home along with a lifetime friend. The two were devastated by her death but Duke was able to stay strong for Lucy, letting her cry into his fur or even just letting the girl hold him when she was reminded of her mother.

Lucy walked behind Duke admiring the collar she had purchased for him not too long ago, when they had first entered Magnolia. She thought it was time for Duke to wear a collar, especially if they were going to live in a city. She didn't want people to pick him off the streets, thinking he was a stray or something. Lucy knew the wolf could take care of himself but it would just put her mind at ease if he had one on. So she bought a beautiful black collar with a gold swirl and dot design around it. The mage also bought a tag and had it engraved with his name on the front and hers on the back.

Duke sure did look handsome with his new collar and of course he had no problem wearing it either. Lucy was surprised at first but brushed it off because Duke had always been this way. The wolf loved to please her and she had a feeling that Duke himself liked his new collar.

The two walked until they reached an apartment complex. Lucy walked in and was greeted by an older lady. At first Lucy worried that Duke wouldn't be allowed in, until the lady squealed when she saw him.

"Oh what a handsome, beauty you are." She said looking at Duke and got up to pet him on the head.

"If you don't mind can we check out the apartment you have for rent?" Lucy asked her politely.

"Oh of course you can dear, come with me."

They followed close behind as she let them in. Lucy smiled looking at it all. It was small but big enough for her and Duke to live in. The bedroom had a writing desk on the other side of the room and a night stand beside the bed. Lucy looked around and noticed the whole apartment was already furnished and just begging to be moved into.

"Is everything in the apartment included? Or does somebody still have some stuff here they are picking up?" Lucy asked her.

"Oh no my dear, this is all included, everything you see in the apartment right now."

"How much for the rent?"

"700,000 jewels."

"We'll take it."

Lucy then handed her the jewels, smiling as she did it and put her suitcase and bag in the bedroom. Duke followed her in and explored around his new home.

"Alright dear, I live downstairs if you need anything just knock on my door." She said before leaving the apartment.

"Well Duke, it may not be a huge mansion but it's ours."

The wolf nodded in agreement. Then Lucy began to unpack their things, putting her clothes away along with everything else she brought. Duke then moved to the bag and dragged out his old blanket and walked over to Lucy with it. Lucy giggled before taking the blanket and spreading it out on the bed.

"Duke go ahead and get your food and water dishes and put them in the kitchen for me. I'll get the food and start putting them in the cabinets."

Duke nodded and grabbed his bowls, then made his way to the kitchen. He set them down side by side next to the end of the counter. While Lucy put away his food and treats. Duke then moved himself into the living room and sat up on the couch and waited for her to finish. Once she was done Lucy looked out the window. It was early in the afternoon still, so she decided that they would head out for the rest of the day.

"Come on Duke, we still need to find a guild to join."

Duke immediately got up off the couch and followed Lucy outside. Duke began his search by sniffing the air, trying to find traces of magic that could lead the two to a guild. Lucy noticed exactly what Duke was doing and bent down beside him.

"Do you sense any magic Duke? Just concentrate and focus on the source of them, where they all gather should be where the guild is located." Lucy said as she stroked his back, hoping to encourage her partner in his search.

The white wolf then noticed a powerful magic source and decided that it would be their best bet. He began to walk ahead, slowly at first until he was sure Lucy was close behind, then he picked up his pace until they were standing in front of a big building. Duke saw the front read Fairy Tail, happy with his find he looked back to Lucy who was staring at the guild in shock. She ran up and hugged her partner, excited about what he had just found.

"Good job Duke! You found the guild I really wanted to join! Thank you so much!" she said thanking her companion.

Duke then licked her face and they parted. They made their way over to the doors and Duke noticed Lucy was shaking a little. He pushed his head into the side of her leg, trying to encourage her to go in.

"Alright Duke here we go."

Lucy then pushed the doors open and was greeted by fighting wizards. She stood in amazement as Duke walked in front of her, in fear that some of these mages would end up flying into Lucy.

"Oh hello can I help you?" a gentle voice greeted them.

Lucy found that it came from the waitress with white/silver hair. Duke looked over and saw her as well, then he relaxed himself seeing she posed no threat to them.

"Hi, my name is Lucy and this is my partner Duke. We came to see if we could join your guild."

"I see well hello Lucy and Duke, my name is Mirajane. I don't see why not so just let me go check with our master, wait for me at the bar and I'll be right back." She said before making her way up the stairs.

The duo then made their way over to the bar and Lucy sat on one of the bar stools, while Duke took a seat beside her. Lucy then noticed that someone was making their way over to them. He had pink hair and was wearing a black and gold vest with a white scale-like scarf. Duke noticed this too and he immediately got up and stood in front of Lucy as he walked over to them.

"Hello, are you a new member?" he asked them.

"Well we hope to be anyway, my name is Lucy and this is my partner Duke."

"I see well my name is Natsu Dragneel, I'm a fire dragon-slayer."

"Dragon-salyer?"

Before Natsu could answer her, Lucy looked down and noticed that Duke's fur was rising. He then let out a low growl, not very loud but loud enough that they both heard it. The fire mage then looked down confused at the wolf's actions but then backed away from the two. Once Natsu was about a foot away from him and Lucy, he ceased his growling but didn't take his eyes off of him.

"Oh Natsu I'm sorry he's never done this before."

"No it's fine, I must have invaded his space or something, he was just telling me to back off is all."

Lucy stroked Duke's head hoping that would calm him down some. Though he still refused to take his eyes off Natsu. Natsu noticed this and wondered why he was so protective of Lucy.

"He's very protective of you isn't he?" Natsu asked looking at Duke.

"Yeah, he was a present from my mother when I was little. We have never been apart and I haven't had a lot of friends. He's been the only one in my life."

_'So that's why he was so uneasy about me being that close, I must have really freaked him out.'_ Natsu thought as he stared back into the wolf's eyes.

Lucy watched the scene until finally Duke nodded and sat down beside Lucy. Natsu then took the seat next to her once Duke realized he was no threat to Lucy. The dragon-slayer put his hand on Duke's head petting him, before turning to Lucy.

"So what kind of magic do you do?"

"I'm a celestial wizard. I use keys to summon celestial spirits to help me out or even in fights. Though I never liked them fighting alone so I fight along side them with Duke."

"I see and what about Duke? Does he do magic as well?"

"Yup he uses assisting magic. If I run out of magic power or just need a little help he fuses his magic power with mine. When he does that I can summon multiple spirits at a time instead of just one. However if it was only Duke and myself fighting our magic can combine together and we can use elemental magic. Though I'm not exactly sure how it all works, we have only attempted that once."

"Sounds impressive. Hey I know this is sudden and everything but would you like to form a team with myself and my partner Happy? You seem nice and fun to be around, plus I think I grew a little on Duke here."

Lucy saw that Duke had made his way over to Natsu and allowed him to pet him, then wagged his tail when he did. She was surprised, Duke wasn't fond of a lot of people so she was happy at the scene.

"Sure but I have to be approved by your master first."

"Oh don't worry about gramps, he'll let ya in for sure, trust me on that one."

Just as he finished Mira came back with an older man with her. Lucy realized that this must be the guild's master and she hoped that Duke wouldn't behave the way he did when he saw Natsu.

When they arrived at the bar the master took a seat up on the bar counter and motioned for Lucy to come in front of him. She then got up and stood in front of the master, while Duke followed close behind. When they stopped and stood before the master, Duke got in front of Lucy only looking at the master.

"So you must be Miss Lucy and Duke. Mira told me about you. I would just like to know a few things about you."

"Of course."

"What magic do you two do?"

"I'm a celsetail wizard and Duke specializes in assisting magic. Though we've come to realize we can use elemental magic together but we have only attempted this once."

"I see a magical wolf and a celestial mage. We don't have any mages like you in this guild yet. Very interesting."

The master looked at the white wolf, he was protective indeed which would mean them together would be a powerful duo. Not to mention it would be good for Fairy Tail to have a celestial mage. The master made his decision.

"Mira go and fetch the guild stamp and give them their marks." He told Mira then turned back to the two new memebers. "My name is Master Makarov and welcome to my Fairy Tail family."

He then got up and left back up the stairs to his office, while Mira came back with the stamp.

"See told ya no problem!" Natsu shouted as he slung his arm around her.

"Yeah you were right."

"Alright Lucy were would you like your mark and what color?" Mira asked her.

"The back of my right hand and pink please."

Mira stamped the mark on her and moved on to Duke.

"What about you handsome?"

Duke then puffed out his chest to show he wanted it there and then looked to Lucy for the rest.

"I guess on his chest and how about gold for the color Duke? So it matches your eyes and collar."

The wolf nodded in agreement and allowed Mira to stamp his mark on him, leaving a gold Fairy Tail insignia on his chest. Natsu smiled at them both enjoying the scene, a thought then occurred to him.

"Oh you have to meet Happy, if we are going to be a team and all. Wait right here I'll be back."

"HAPPY!" he started shouting in search for his partner.

Lucy laughed as she watched Natsu nearly get into another fight in search for his friend. She then turned to Duke.

"Okay Duke best behavior. This is our new team so you have to be nice. Not a repeat of what happened with Natsu okay? They won't hurt us."

Duke nodded and waited for the fire mage to come back with his companion.

"Here he his! Happy these are our new teammates Lucy and Duke!"

She saw the blue cat hanging onto Natsu's shoulder. She had to admit the little feline was adorable but before she could greet him she noticed Duke staring at Happy funny.

"Natsu! There's a huge dog! That's a huge dog!" he yelped crawling up to Natsu's head.

Big mistake. The second he got on his head Duke lunged. He knocked Natsu over on the floor and attempted to grab Happy but the cat was quick. He grew wings and flew off around the guild as Duke chased after him. Duke knocked over mage after mage, which of course caused a huge rumble. Duke barked as he chased after Happy and Happpy merely screamed for someone to help him.

"Oh my…Duke! Don't chase Happy!" she yelled at him, horrified at the scene her partner caused.

Natsu on the other hand was laughing his ass off at the scene, that is until he saw Lucy's horrified expression.

"Awe don't worry about it Luce! This is great! Duke really is a Fairy Tail member! This happens all the time and I think Duke is only playing around with Happy. Happy just got over excited that's all."

Lucy only stared and realized that everyone was having fun and then she joined in Natsu's laughter at the scene. Until they two were knocked over this time by both Duke and Happy. Natsu landed on top of Lucy while Happy was on top of Natsu but pinned down by Duke's body.

Natsu looked down at Lucy's face and immediately stood right up knocking the two animals on the ground. He then held out his hand to Lucy and apologized.

"Sorry about that."

"Not your fault, Duke and Happy knocked us over."

Natsu turned to see that Happy was still trying to get away but Duke put a paw on Happy's tail so he couldn't get away again.

"I give! I give! Just please make it quick!" he begged.

"Happy calm down Duke's only playing with you! He's not going to eat you!" Natsu yelled over to him.

"He's not?!" He then looked back at the wolf, who was wagging his tail and licked Happy's face.

"Sorry about that Happy. I would have warned you had I known he was going to do that." Lucy apologized.

"No more giving me a heart attack Duke! I thought I was going to die!"

Duke then put his ears back and licked Happy's face as an apology.

"You're forgiven and welcome to the team!" Happy said with a smile plastered across his face.

Duke then let out a happy howl while the cat climbed up onto the wolf's head and Natsu then tackled the two to the ground as pay back for earlier.

Lucy smiled at the scene. They had finally made it. Duke and herself finally found a place that made them happy, somewhere they could finally call home.

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Slow start but what can ya do? I just love my new character! I always pictured Lucy with something and Duke just fit my vision. As always please fav and follow my story if you like it and want to know when the new chapters are out! And of course let me know what you think in a review! They always help me improve my stories and I try to take in everything you guys suggest. Thank you for reading and until next time!**

**~wolvesfinalden**


	3. Chapter 2: Team Natsu

**Hello Everyone!**

** I've been working on this story more so than my others, due to the fact I have a little bit of a writer's block for Fairy Tail: What Brings Us Together. However I have been thinking about it and I should be able to update that one soon. Alright now on to the story.**

**~wolvesfinalden**

**Fairy Tail: By Your Side**

**Chapter 2: Team Natsu**

The next day Duke and Lucy made their way to the guild. Duke trotted up to the doors first but waited patiently until Lucy came beside him. Lucy then opened the doors and was greeted by a few fighting mages.

Duke left his partner to find his new friend, Happy among the mess. The white wolf found his feline friend on one of the middle tables, sitting on top and of course eating a fish.

"Hello Duke." Happy said to him with a mouth full of fish.

The wolf wagged his tail sitting next to the table with Happy. The cat then pulled off a piece of fish and held it out to Duke.

"Want some fish Duke?" he asked him.

Duke hesitated at first but then gently took the piece of fish from his friend and proceeded to gobble it down. Happy smiled as he took it and stood up on the table top he was sitting on.

"See its good isn't it Duke?! Natsu! Duke loves fish!" Happy shouted with joy.

Lucy heard the feline and couldn't help but giggle at them. Only one day and those two were becoming close friends. It put her mind at ease because she wasn't sure how Duke would have reacted to a life here in the guild. She was glad to push that thought away for good now that Duke seemed content. She then made her way to the bar to talk with Mira.

"So Lucy, are you and Duke enjoying it here?" Mira asked her.

"Yeah, feels like home here." She said smiling at Duke playing with Happy.

Duke had took Happy's fish but was only teasing his friend. He would hold it up out of his reach and when the cat realized he could fly up and get it, her wolf darted off around the guild. She watched as Duke didn't watch where he was going and smacked right into Natsu and who she assumed was named Gray, since that's what Natsu yelled before Duke hit into him.

"Oh my, looks like Duke and Happy are getting along well." Mira said with a giggle.

The blonde heard Happy yell at Duke to give him his fish back. However he just shook his head and toppled Gray over making Natsu nearly bust a gut laughing at him.

"That a boy Duke! Haha, that'll teach frost bite!" he yelled as he patted the wolf's head.

The last thing Lucy saw before she turned back around was Duke giving Happy back the rest of his fish. Then licking his face as an apology but the cat didn't seem too offended by the whole thing.

"So Lucy are you thinking about taking a job yet?" Mira asked her.

"Not sure. I guess I'll have to ask Natsu and Happy to see if they're up for going on one."

*crack!*

Lucy looked up to see Mira had accidently broke the glass she was cleaning and was now looking at her with wide eyes. Which of course made the celestial mage extremely confused.

"You okay Mira? What happened?"

Before getting an answer Lucy herself was bombarded with questions.

"Wait you and Natsu? When did this happen? Did you two know each other? Did he ask you? Did you ask him?"

Lucy couldn't keep up with all the questions she was asking so she was able to stop Mira's question and began answering the ones she could remember she asked. She just told her exactly what happened yesterday while she was getting the master. From him walking over, to Duke's strange actions, and to him asking her that question.

"That's amazing." Mira said.

"Um, why do you say that?"

"Because Natsu has never formed a team with anyone before. As far as I remember he had only teamed up with Happy for the longest time. Strange that he would suddenly form a team with our newest member."

"Oh I see. Well maybe he's just interested in Duke. Magic wolves aren't exactly a common thing, nor is our magic."

"That's true but seems like he's more interested in you, Lucy." Mira said with a mischievous smile.

"I don't think so Mira." Lucy laughed nervously.

"Okay whatever you say Lucy." Mira sang

The girls then talked about the other guild members. Mira told her just about everyone from her brother Elfman, to the members of team shadow gear, to the S-class wizards, and the older members of the guild.

"Wait hold on Gray strips his clothes?" Lucy asked in astonishment.

"Yup, a habit he picked up from his teacher years ago."

Lucy then heard Natsu yell at Gray.

"Hey stripper but your freaking clothes on!" Natsu yelled at him.

"Oh shut up flame-brains."

"You want to go popsicle?!"

"Anytime droopy eyes!"

Duke then noticed the hostility towards his new friend and it pissed him off. The wolf got up and growled at Gray as he approached him. Natsu heard him first and turned his head towards him with a confused look.

The wolf noticed Natsu's look but ignored it as he got to the two and pushed between them. He stood in front of Natsu and lowered his head, letting out louder growls and bearing his teeth at Gray. This caused the ice mage to back up slowly, not sure what he was about to do.

Natsu only laughed at the situation they were in. Only yesterday he meet Duke and Lucy, and here he was protecting Natsu from what he thought was a threat. The dragon slayer then smiled at Gray.

"Awe what's wrong snow for brains? Afraid of this little puppy?" Natsu teased him as he pulled Duke to his side.

Duke remained eyes locked on his target, but wagged his tail when Natsu pulled him closer to him. Gray still remained a little freaked out until Duke ceased his growling all together and looked up.

Natsu was confused but the wolf left without a second thought. Duke moved so quick through the crowd that the dragon slayer couldn't pin point where he went.

"Alright what the hell was that all about?!" Gray asked a little pissed off. "Who was that wolf?"

"The wolf's name is Duke. He belongs to our new guild member Lucy."

"Okay that still doesn't explain why the hell he growled and snarled at me like that."

"Probably because we were both fighting with each other. He must have thought you were a threat to me and jumped in to tell you to back off. He did that to me yesterday when I met Lucy. He'd stand in front of her and growled a little at me. When he stopped I sat beside her and he allowed me to pet him."

"Alright that makes sense but that one over protective canine."

"Oh cut him some slack stripper. From what I understood Lucy didn't have friends growing up, all she had was Duke. So he's protective of her because he's not use to people being around her. It was fortunate that he warmed up to me so quickly."

"Whatever you say flame breath."

Gray then walked away and Natsu scanned the guild and noticed that Lucy went missing too.

'_Oh I get it now Lucy must have called him. Wonder if she went home then.'_

The fire mage walked over to his feline partner and smiled at him.

"What are you planning Natsu?" he asked him.

"I think we should go pay Luce and Duke a visit don't you?"

Lucy and Duke had made it home not to long ago. She decided she wanted to clean her apartment today. The blonde was lucky she decided that when she did. Once she told Mira she was going home for the day, she noticed Duke was standing in front of Natsu growling at Gray. Her new partner though just pulled him closer and smirked at Gray.

Not taking a second longer she called for Duke. The wolf soon joined her in a matter of seconds and they went out the doors.

"Jeez Duke you're not supposed to pick fights with people." Lucy sighed.

Duke put his ears back and put his head down, showing his master that he was sorry. Lucy smiled and patted his head.

"Oh it's okay Duke. You probably just thought Natsu needed some help. That's okay but remember that people in the guild are our friends. They won't harm each other and those two fight all the time from what Mira told me." She told him.

Duke nodded and went into the bedroom. Lucy smiled and went on to her cleaning. She had a few things she bought yesterday that needed out as well. Sighing, she went straight to work.

When the wolf entered the bedroom he laid himself down on the blanket Lucy always sat out for him. She always put it on her bed right beside where she would often lay. He then shut his eyes and let himself drift off into sleep.

It wasn't but an hour later that Duke heard something. At first he just thought it was Lucy so he ignored it. However when a different scent hit his nose he shot up and growled but was surprised at what he saw. Coming through the window was Natsu and Happy. Still confused about everything the wolf growled lowly until he got a proper explination.

Natsu put a hand on the wolf's head and put his index finger to his lips.

"Shh, it's okay buddy we're just here to surprise Luce. Nothing wrong with that right?"

Duke nodded and ceased his growling since he got a good enough answer. He laid his head back down and saw the dragon slayer join him on the bed. Duke then moved his head to Natsu's lap, while Happy curled up beside Duke's stomach. The three then waited for Lucy to be finished.

Lucy had finally finished putting everything away and cleaning the living room. She took a look around the room and saw her wolf was still out of sight. She then made her way over to the bedroom, remembering that he had gone in there earlier.

"Duke are you hungry?" she asked as she opened the bedroom door.

The mage stared in shock at the sight. There on her bed was not only her wolf but also her two new teammates! When the hell did they even get in here?!

"What are you doing in my bedroom and how the hell did you get in?!" Lucy shouted in frustration.

Natsu just smiled and waved at her before he got up off the bed, waking up the two animals beside him.

"We came to surprise you and we just came through the window. Duke was surprised when we got in too!"

Lucy looked over at her partner who had his ears back and head down. She sighed moving to her bed and stroked Duke's fur.

"It's okay Duke." She whispered.

The celestial mage turned back to Natsu. He was very strange, who enter's someone's home without permission?

"Alright I'm surprised but you should ask before coming into someone's home."

"Yeah but I thought it would be okay since we're a team now and all."

"Just give me a warning next time but why did you come here?"

"We thought that we'd all go on a job, sounds like fun right?" he said as he handed Lucy the flyer he found.

She read it and saw that they only had to retrieve and destroy a book. Not to mention the reward was decent.

"Simple enough mission for your first time right?" he asked smiling at his choice in requests.

Then Lucy noticed something else about the job. It struck a nerve with her remembering what Mira said about Natsu not teaming up with people in the past. However she thought that he probably didn't notice that small detail.

"This last part is um interesting." She said.

Natsu took a look at what she was talking about. The second he saw what Lucy was talking about he chuckled.

"Yeah I saw that but hey it all works out, don't you think?"

"Is that the reason why you wanted to team up?"

The dragon slayer looked shocked and proceeded to shake his head.

"No Luce, honest. I really wanted to form a team with you guys. Besides I only saw this request today."

Lucy sighed feeling bad about what she said to him and for even thinking that it was the reason why he wanted to team up with her and Duke.

"Sorry Natsu."

"Don't worry about it Lucy, besides we don't have to do that part if you don't want to. We can always find another way to get in." Natsu told her.

Natsu looked up to the window and saw it was getting late. He looked over to the bed and saw the animal duo sleeping together on the edge of the bed.

"We'll it's getting late and we should get some rest before we leave for the job tomorrow."

Natsu walked over to the bed and laid himself down. This caused Lucy to shoot a glance at her partner. She couldn't figure out exactly what he was doing.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Well Happy is already asleep with Duke and I don't want to disturb him. So why not just stay here and head out in the morning?"

"Yeah but why are you in my bed?"

"There's enough room for all of us."

Lucy couldn't believe what he just said. Did he really not understand what he was saying? Or is he just too dense to realize something like that? She had only known him for two days now and here he was in her bed.

The blonde noticed that Natsu made himself comfortable and waited for her to join him. She then looked over to Duke and Happy, who were happily asleep next to each other, with Happy using Duke's fur as a fluffy pillow.

_'Well it's clear Natsu isn't moving. Maybe he just thinks that we should act like Duke and Happy. It's really strange but I haven't exactly had friends living at the mansion. Maybe that's just how people around here treat each other. Just like family. It's possible right?'_

Lucy then got changed in the bathroom and finally joined Natsu jand the others in the bed. Once she was settled in she felt movement in the bed. Looking up she saw Duke made his way over to her. He laid between Natsu and Lucy putting his head on Lucy's stomach. Soon after Happy joined them, only laying on top of Natsu but close enough to Duke.

Lucy sighed as she tried to go to sleep. The blonde heard the teen chuckle beside her.

"Seems like they felt left out." He said before closing his eyes. "Night Luce."

"Night Natsu." She then closed her eyes and whispered to Duke.

"Night Duke."

The wolf softly growled as a goodnight to her and they all fell asleep.

The next morning Lucy found herself being the first one up. Natsu and Happy were both still asleep beside her, while Duke woke up the moment he felt her move. The girl then got out of bed and got herself ready for the day and Duke waited out in the living room.

When she was finished she decided to make some breakfast for her team. So she entered the kitchen and began to cook some food. Half way done with breakfast Lucy went into one of Duke's cabinet's and gave the wolf some of his own food, then got some meat out of the fridge for him, mixing it with his food.

"Duke come eat." She called in a low voice, so she wouldn't wake her sleeping friends.

Duke came running to the kitchen and greedily ate his food. Lucy finished making breakfast but before she could call for the other two, they both appeared into the room.

"Hey Luce, making breakfast?" he asked her.

"Yup just got done so sit down."

Happy sat up on the table and Natsu took a seat. Lucy gave them their food and both started eating. She joined them after she sat down herself and after a good ten to twenty minutes everyone was done eating.

"So we're heading out today right?" she asked Natsu.

"Yup, whenever you're ready we'll go."

"Let me just pack a bag real quick."

She quickly went to her room and packed a small bag before leaving. While she packed her things the three waited in the living room. Duke was laying on the couch with his head on the dragon slayer's lap. Natsu stoked his fur and Happy sat on top of the wolf.

"Say Natsu you never told me why you wanted to team up with Lucy. You never wanted to form a team with anyone before so why now?" the cat asked him.

This caused Natsu to stop what he was doing. Happy noticed this and watched as his father figure thought about his question before finally answering.

"Truthfully, I'm not sure, there's just something about her that drew me to her. I wanted to get to know her better and the best way I could do that was teaming up with her and Duke."

Happy was surprised, Natsu wasn't exactly serious so hearing this was very strange. Then he got a mischievous smile as an idea popped into his head.

"You liiiike her." He teased him.

This earned him a glare from the fire mage but before he could say anything Lucy walked in.

"All done, let's go!" she said with a smile.

The team then made their way out and headed for Natsu's least favorite place…..the train station.

**And that's it for this chapter. Thank you for reading and as always review, fav, or follow my story if you enjoy it. More to come very soon, I just need to type up the next chapter. If you have any questions about the story or anything don't be afraid to ask! Thank you again and until next time guys!**

**~wolvesfinalden**


	4. Chapter 3: The Secret Behind the Book

**Hello and Welcome Back!**

** I've been keeping up with this story lately just because it's best for me to write down these ahead of time or I'll forget about it later. My other ones are on standby now just because I've been focused on this one but I'm putting in work on my other Fairy Tail story so hopefully that will be up very soon! Anyone enough of me back to the story.**

**~wolvesfinalden**

**Fairy Tail: By Your Side**

**Chapter 3: The Secret Behind the Book**

Team Natsu made their way to the job requester's home. Lucy and Duke walked in front while Natsu and Happy trailed behind them.

"So I take it transportation is a big weakness for you huh?" Lucy said as they walked.

"Yeah Natsu always gets motion sickness, even when he just thinks about it." Happy told her.

Natsu on the other hand blocked out the conversation so he wouldn't get sick again. He was a little annoyed with transportation and he didn't understand why but he was afraid Lucy was going to lose respect for him, if she had any in the first place, after knowing this. He quickly pushed the thought to the back of his head, not wanting to think about that at the moment.

_'What is with me? I never cared about anything like this before. Maybe it's just because she's new and she doesn't know me that well yet. Yeah that has to be it!'_ he thought to himself.

They reached the house and Lucy knocked on the door. After she did an elder man answered the door and ushered them in. They all took a seat and allowed him to explain what they had to do and any other details that may help. Once they had all the information they made their way to the mansion. When they reached the mansion, they hid in the tree line that was in front of the mansion, so they could figure out some kind of plan.

"I say we just charge in there and take the book. Then I'll burn it with my fire." Natsu said as he lit some fire in his hand.

"Natsu we can't just barge in there. Plus we need to find the book and we don't know where it is. It'll be harder if we make a scene." Lucy told him.

Natsu sighed as he let his fire go out and turned to Lucy.

"Alright then what do you suggest?"

Happy decided to put his two sense in and smiled at Lucy.

"We could always dress you up as a maid." Happy said devilishly.

Duke growled at Happy's words. He didn't like the sound of his idea one bit.

"I'm not dressing up as a maid!" She yelled at the cat.

After calming down for a second she told them her idea.

"We could just sneak in from the top window up there. From there we'll have to find a library. If we send Duke ahead, he should be able to find it faster without getting spotted. OF course Happy you can accompany him as well."

They all agreed and scaled the side of the building. Slowly they opened the window and climbed inside. Natsu and Lucy hid behind the corner, while they sent Duke and Happy ahead of them.

"So how will we know when they find it?" Natsu whispered.

"Duke's assisting magic also allows me to see what he sees. All I have to do is sync my magic with his and it's like looking at a video." She whispered.

"Well that's useful." The dragon-slayer commented.

Duke walked with Happy ridding on his back. He surveyed the mansion and tried to locate the library. As they walked Duke noticed a double door. Remembering his master saying something about how some mansions had double doors for bigger rooms, such as libraries. He then immediately walked over to the doors.

Happy hopped down and pushed open the doors. Once inside they were greeted by shelves and shelves of books.

"Good job Duke. I'll go get Natsu and Lucy." Happy said.

However before he could leave, Duke caught his tail by stepping on it lightly with his paw, so he wouldn't hurt his friend. The blue cat looked confused at his friend but watched as Duke shook his head.

"But Duke how.."

Before Happy could finish Duke's eyes began to glow a brighter gold, but not covering his enter eye. He walked around looking at the shelves then looked to the two doors. Once he finished staring at the doors his eyes returned back to normal.

"Woah! That was cool!" Happy whispered loudly. "But what was that all about?"

Duke answered by motioning to the door. They heard footsteps and then the door opened slowly, revealing the two mages.

"Good job guys." Lucy said.

"Hey Lucy what happened? Duke's eyes' were glowing." Happy asked her.

"Duke was using assisting magic to show me you found the library. I can see what he sees when he does that."

"Oh I see, so that's why his eyes glowed. Does it do anything else?" Happy asked her.

"I don't really know. We've only used it for this purpose before." Lucy admitted.

The white wolf in the meantime sniffed out the shelves looking for the book titled "Daybreak". At first he couldn't see it but then Natsu joined him and just grabbed a random book off the shelf. Duke watched as he turned to Lucy.

"We better look for this book so we can get this job over with." The dragon-slayer said.

However Duke was inspecting the book he held in his hand. He then read the title of the book and snatched it out of the dragon-slayer's hand. Natsu was surprised at his actions but couldn't respond quick enough. Once Duke had the book he walked over to Lucy and allowed her to take the book from him.

"Well what do you know. Natsu you picked the book right off the shelf." Lucy said smiling and showing him the book.

There on the title it read "Daybreak". The fire mage smiled at his achievement then held out his hand.

"Alright give it here so I can burn it up."

Lucy was about to hand it over until she noticed something odd about the book. Duke noticed it too and growled as he sniffed the book. He then pushed Lucy a little, trying to move her away from Natsu.

"What's wrong?" Natsu and Happy both asked.

"Something is off about this book. Almost like there's magic coming from the book."

She then turned the book so she could see the cover. When she saw the author's name on the book, she paused.

_'Wait I've seen that name before. He was a famous author but he died a while ago. I remember seeing somewhere he wrote one last book before he died. Could this be it? And why is there magic surrounding the book? Duke picked it up just as fast as I did. No there is something strange about this book. We can't burn this book yet. Not until I figure out exactly what is going on here.' _Lucy thought.

Duke seemed to understand what was going through her mind as well. When she looked to him he just nodded his head. Seeing as Duke seemed to understand what was going on here she looked to her other teammates.

"What do you mean something's off about it? Besides we just have to burn it why worry about it?" Natsu asked her.

"I'm almost certain now that this book is surrounded by some kind of magic. There's more going on here than we realize. I think it's best that we try and figure that out don't you?" Lucy asked him.

"What about our job though? Isn't that kind of important?"

"I know that Natsu but I want to understand what is going on around here. I feel like if we burn this book we'd be making a big mistake. Just let me try and figure this out, if there is nothing wrong with this book and it clears out with me then you can burn it, okay?" She said to him.

Natsu stared at her for a moment. He didn't quite understand why she was so determined to figure out what was going on with this book but he respected it. Besides he thought he felt something off around here. The second they stepped into the mansion he had felt uneasy and he didn't like it. Not one bit.

"Alright Luce but try and hurry up. Like you said we probably shouldn't get caught."

"But Natsu.." Happy started.

"It's fine Happy. Something has been bugging me about this place. This might be it, it's best that we see what is going on around here." Natsu said to his partner.

Happy just nodded but looked back to Lucy. He wasn't sure what she was thinking but he knew something was bugging her too. So the cat just let it all slide.

"Duke go and keep guard. If anyone comes this way let us know okay?"

Duke nodded and ran right for the door.

"Wait I'll come too." Happy called after Duke.

The two animals then exited the room leaving the two mages to themselves.

Lucy sat down and got out her magic glasses. She sat down and quickly flipped through the book, able to read at what seemed like the speed of light, thanks to the glasses. Natsu watched her flip through the book and looked back to the doors. He was itching for a fight but he didn't want to cause too much trouble with Lucy trying to code whatever was in that book.

He sat on top of the desk Lucy was leaning against and waited. Natsu got a little bored waiting but he didn't say a word. The dragon-slayer didn't know why, if it had been with anyone else, he would have been complaining the moment he felt bored or even go looking for a fight. However now that he was out on a mission with Lucy, he didn't want to act that way. It scared him at first but now he just accepted it.

_'What is it with this girl? She makes me act completely different than normal. I wonder if it will be like this on all of our missions. Not that I would mind.'_ He thought to himself.

While Natsu was with his thoughts Lucy was mid way through the book. She finally understood what was going on here. It all made sense now, why the client wanted to book destroyed, why the book was even here in the first place, and also why the book was written. She was surprised and also disgusted with whoever forced this poor man to write this book for so long, causing him to be away from his family during that time period.

When she got to the end of the book, they were surprised to hear the doors open revealing Duke and Happy sprinting towards them. Natsu jumped up off the desk and stood in front of Lucy. Duke stopped in his tracks when he was in front of the two and spun around. His fur was standing up all over the place and he was growling extremely loud. Happy on the other hand just flew to Natsu and crawled on top of his shoulder.

Lucy slowly stood up behind Natsu and waited to see what got them both so worked up. Though she didn't have to wait too long. In a matter of seconds a huge maid appeared in the door way with a short little man standing behind her.

"Who dares enter my mansion without permission!?" he yelled.

Duke just growled louder and snarled, showing the man his teeth. Natsu just glared at the man and Lucy moved so she was standing beside Natsu.

"We're mages of Fairy Tail. Here on a job request to take this book and destroy it. So if you don't mind we'll be taking this and leaving now." Natsu told him.

"I don't think so. Virgo get rid of these pests and get my book back!" he demanded.

The huge maid jumped up and spun down at them like a drill. Duke turned and knocked Lucy out of the way while Natsu charged at her, with a fist full of fire. Happy hurried and flew towards Duke and Lucy so he would be out of Natsu's way.

The maid and dragon slayer made impact. As a result, Natsu was sent flying backwards into one of the bookshelves. Virgo then made her way towards Lucy, who was being guarded by Duke. The wolf snarled and jumped at her.

Lucy took the time to activate their assisting magic together. Duke felt it and his fur began to glow signaling that their magic had synced together. Lucy then sent a surge of power towards Virgo, who easily dodged it. Duke however took the magic Lucy launched and absorbed it and then looked back at Lucy. She nodded and grabbed one of her gold keys.

"Open! Gate of the Crab! Cancer!" she called out as she motioned with her key.

A gate then opened revealing a man wearing sunglasses and dressed up like a crab. He looked over to Lucy.

"Hey baby need a haircut?" he asked her.

"No, just take on Virgo there if you could for me."

"Sure thing."

He launched at her while Duke accompanied him. Lucy allowed Duke to take some of her magic so his was increased. The wolf grabbed a hold of the maid around her collar bone and tossed her towards the ground. Cancer quickly took his chance and attacked her with his scissors.

The two then moved back in front of Lucy waiting for the maid to recover. Lucy then looked back to Natsu who was getting up at the moment.

"Natsu you okay?" she asked him.

"Yeah I'm fine. Nothing to worry about."

Lucy turned back to the little man. He was holding what looked like a golden gate key. Which confused her at first until Duke looked back to her then he looked to the little man, then turned his gaze over to Virgo. As Lucy followed Duke's eyes she realized what he was trying to tell her.

_'I see so Virgo must be a celestial spirit as well.'_

"You stupid maid can't you do anything right?! I guess I'll have to get the book back myself!" he yelled as he walked over to Lucy.

Natsu then got angry and stood by Lucy.

"I don't think so tubby." He said to him.

"What the hell did you just call me?!" he said enraged.

"You heard me, besides you don't look that tough."

Lucy knew that the man couldn't do much unless he was good in combat. Celestial mages don't exactly fight well on their own unless they practice some other form of fighting themselves. Sadly that's the main reason the blonde heard so many stories of some celestial mages using their spirits as mere tools. She always hated people like that. No one should ever be treated that way.

Duke growled at the man and moved closer to him. Which made the man very uneasy, he tried to move away from the white wolf but was unsuccessful as Duke only followed him. Natsu smiled as he watched Duke toy with the man.

The blonde mage took this opportunity to confront the man behind this horrible book.

"You know you should be ashamed of yourself."

The man stopped and looked at her with a evil glare.

"Oh really why is that girly?"

"You made a great author right this horrid book. Not only that you took him as prisoner, separating him from his family for three years. How could anyone do something so horrible."

"Simple enough, I paid him a sufficient amount of money. When you own this much money, you can do whatever you want and get what you want."

"That doesn't give you the right to do so. However the truth is all in this book." She said holding up the book.

"What that's impossible, I've read that book and saw nothing of the sort."

"Well that's because the book was surrounded by magic. When you read it normally it's just a simple story, however if you read it the way the author intended it's a wonderful story about what you had done to him. All the lies you built up, it's all here in black and white."

"Give that damn book back now!" he screamed as he charged towards her.

However he didn't even reach her. Duke had tackled him to the ground and was now at his mercy. Natsu then walked over to the man and kneeled down beside him.

"You know I hate people like you. You're just a waste of space as far as I'm concerned. You can't just use people the way you want to. It makes me sick!" he growled at the man.

The dragon-slayer then kicked him and sent him flying through the air. Natsu then turned back to his group and motioned to Lucy.

"Alright so do you want me to burn it or not?" he asked her.

She shook her head and then used her key to send Cancer back home. Virgo then vanished as well.

"I was telling the truth that this book was more than what it seemed. It did say about this man but it's specifically for someone." Lucy said with a smile. "And I think he should finally be able to read it as well don't you?"

Natsu looked at her a little confused as well as Happy. However he just nodded his head and lead the way out of the mansion.

Duke was walking behind him until he felt someone behind him. He turned to find what smelled like the maid they had just fought, though this time there was not hostility coming from her, not to mention she was now normal sized and looked a lot better than she had before.

"Could you give this to that celestial mage you traveled here with? I would like to serve the princess." Virgo said to him.

She held out her gate key to Duke and waited for him to take it. He then looked back at the man a little confused.

"Don't worry about him. Our contract will be terminated once the police show up and I know they will. So if you would take this to her?"

Duke then wagged his tail and nodded his head. He took Virgo's key and watched as she disappeared once again. The wolf tucked the key in his collar and hurried off after his team.

**And there you have it. That's all for this chapter. It's moving kind of slow right now but it will pick up pretty soon. Just have to get the main story across first and then the good stuff later ;). Until next time guys and don't forget to Fav, Follow, or review this story so I know you guys want more. Thank you all so much!**

**~wolvesfinalden**


	5. Chapter 4: Bonding

**Welcome Back Everyone!**

** I hope you all are enjoying so far and don't worry NaLu moments are coming I promise! Again if you like any of my stories and want to follow when I post new stuff just follow me. Of course most you know that ;). Anyway enough of me on with the story! Enjoy!**

**~wolvesfinalden**

**Fairy Tail: By Your Side**

**Chapter 4: Bonding**

Lucy walked back to her apartment with Duke at her side. It was a little late when they got back and she told Natsu and Happy that they were just going to head to the guild tomorrow. They were both tired and Lucy wanted nothing more than to go crawl in her bed.

After they had returned with the book, the man was very confused as to why they hadn't destroyed the book. Lucy however explained what she had saw in the book, she handed it to the man and the words themselves began decoded by the magic. The spell that was on the book was broken and finally the man was able to read the letter his father had wrote to him so long ago.

The blonde was a little upset about no reward but Natsu insisted that they hadn't done the job right and it would look bad for Fairy Tail if they accepted the reward. Lucy then agreed seeing as it was the right thing to do, however the ride back Happy kept calling her greedy. She just ignored it the whole ride while she tried to comfort poor Natsu during his motion sickness.

Lucy opened the door to the apartment and let Duke in first. He had immediately gone to the bedroom and it made her giggle a little. She had known he was tired during their walk back here but she hadn't realized how bad the poor thing wanted to sleep.

She followed after him, placing her bag by the door of the bedroom, so she would remember to unpack it in the morning. Then she got a shower and dressed after all that was done she finally joined Duke in the bed. When the wolf felt movement on the bed he moved over a bit to allow Lucy some room in. After she was settled he moved closer and put his head onto her stomach.

Lucy patted his head before she finally went to sleep that night.

**Few Months Later**

Lucy sat at a table with Levy. The two had become really good friends over the past few months. She found out Levy enjoyed books just about as much as she did and they would often discuss the different books they had read.

While Lucy would talk with Levy, Duke would hang around his feline friend and eat some fish with him, until Natsu called him over to scare Gray. Duke didn't mind at all, it amused him how easy it was to scare the strange ice mage. Lucy had told him before she didn't like him fighting with the guild members but the wolf found a way to obey her orders and have a little fun with Natsu.

Natsu enjoyed spending time with the wolf at the guild and would often sit and talk with Lucy awhile before deciding that they should take another job request. The dragon-slayer felt himself growing closer to the blonde and her wolf but he often felt like she would put up a barrier between them.

There were times on missions when he would ask her something about her childhood and then she would just completely block him out while Duke would stand with her and not move a muscle. The fire mage new something must have happened when she was younger but he didn't want to press any further and make her uncomfortable. Though it would still frustrate him that she wouldn't tell him much of anything.

The dragon-slayer had found himself over the last few months also telling her a little about himself hoping that eventually the blonde would open up as well. He told her that he was still trying to find his father, Igneel a fire dragon. At first she thought he was kidding but after a little while she realized he wasn't joking. Anything she asked he would answer without a problem. At first he found it strange how easily he could open up to her but he soon grew used to it all.

"Hey Natsu, what are we doing today?" Happy asked him. "Were you thinking about going on a request?"

He thought about taking another job, truthfully just as an excuse to talk to Lucy some more that is until another idea popped in his head.

"Nah, how about we hang out with Lucy and Duke today?"

"Okay that's sounds good, I'll go get Lucy." Happy said.

The fire mage smiled as he watched his feline partner go get Lucy. Happy may make fun of her or tease her at times but he knew Happy liked Lucy. It made him feel better knowing that his old partner liked her. As he was watching he felt something brush against his hand. When he looked down he saw Duke was rubbing his head against him.

The wolf then looked up wagging his tail waiting for Natsu to do something. He smiled and started to pet the wolf. For some reason Duke always loved it when he got his attention. Lucy had told him before that he had usually only done that for her.

"Sorry buddy wasn't giving you much attention huh?" he said as he stroked the wolf's white coat.

Duke enjoyed it when Natsu pet him. Lucy was the only one he would normally let do this but since they came here he grew to like the dragon-slayer and he could tell that Lucy was slowly growing to like him as well. Though Duke could tell there was something more that the two were hiding but also knew that they still haven't figured it out yet. So he let it slide, for now anyway.

The wolf then picked up his head and noticed the blue cat returning to them. He stopped in front of Natsu. The dragon-slayer looked down to his smaller partner and waited for him to speak.

"Lucy says she doesn't mind. She's heading out now if we want to come." Happy told him.

After hearing this Duke got up and ran over to his master. He didn't want to be left behind, even if it would have only been with Natsu and Happy.

Natsu saw Duke leave and looked back to Happy.

"Seems like Duke is nervous about leaving Lucy alone for too long. Don't you think Happy?"

"Well yeah but then again, we don't know much about them Natsu. She still has yet to open that part up to us."

"Maybe today will be our lucky day then."

"You think she will today?"

The two then heard Lucy calling them asking if they were still coming. Natsu was the first to respond to her.

"Yeah Luce, we'll be right there!"

He then turned back to Happy and smiled.

"I have a feeling she might."

The two then left and followed Duke and Happy out the guild doors.

The group ventured around Magnolia in search of something to do. There were some shops Lucy would venture into and Duke would follow her. Natsu and Happy on the other hand would trail behind, not really wanting to go into the store in the first place. Though they did it because Lucy wanted to. Then Lucy would let them pick something and of course the thing on their mind was food.

After they were done eating, they were back to aimlessly walking again.

"I'm so booreeed" Natsu complained as they walked.

Happy just mumbled in agreement and Lucy was just losing her patience.

"Then why not go home then." Lucy said in an annoyed tone.

Natsu turned to her.

"Cause I thought I could get to know you better. After all I still don't know all that much about you." He answered.

Lucy sighed and Duke noticed her nervousness again. He whimpered and let her pet him like she always did when she got like this. Duke then noticed a big tree up ahead and pulled on Lucy's skirt a bit to make her follow him.

Natsu noticed this as well and followed the two over to the tree. There he sat himself down and motioned for Lucy to join him. She sat right beside him while Duke took his spot beside her and Happy climbed into Natsu's lap.

"Do you want to tell me yet?"

"I do but I just don't really like thinking about it is all. Duke and I left that place because we weren't happy there." Lucy said in a low voice.

She always hated thinking about her past, which was why she never liked to talk about it, not even with Natsu. However that wasn't the only reason. She also was scared to let someone else in. For the longest time it had only been her and Duke, just plain and simple. Though ever since she came to Fairy Tail a few months back she found it scary that someone had become this close to her in a short amount of time.

"You know it might feel better to talk about it. Truthfully I never liked talking about my past either. However I felt like I could let you in though. I still don't know why but I think it's because we became such good friends in a short amount of time." Natsu said to her.

Happy and Lucy just gawked at the dragon-slayer's words. Happy then got on Natsu's should and felt his forehead.

"What are you doing Happy."

"Seeing if you are sick because the Natsu I know is never this serious." He said almost seriously.

Lucy then giggled a little but then smiled at Natsu. She could understand why he wanted to know and she found that he was right. She needed someone to talk to about all of this. She had to let someone into her life. She looked over to Duke.

Duke was wagging his tail and then nodded his head to her. The white wolf knew it couldn't be just Lucy and himself forever. She needed to let others into her life and he was glad the first one would be the fire mage. It only made sense, it was he that they had met first. Not only that but it was Natsu that was the first the wolf accepted and allowed to be as close to him as he did with Lucy.

"Alright Natsu, I'll tell you what happened." Lucy finally said.

Natsu nodded and patiently waited for her to tell her what had happened when she was little.

"A long time ago Duke was given to me as a present from my mother and father. We had lived in a mansion with miles of land. It was lonely because I would often play by myself, so when my mother showed me my present I was really happy. Though shortly after he was given to me, my mother passed away. She had been sick for a long time and finally her body just couldn't take it anymore."

Natsu felt bad for her. That must have it her hard at such a young age. He remembered how devastated he was when Igneel disappeared.

"After she was gone my father blocked me out of his life. He hired people to teach me instead of sending me to school. It was all mainly just business so I could run father's company when I was old enough. This made me feel lonely again but every time I was free and felt upset again, Duke was always there."

"So that's why you two are such good friends. You've been through a lot together huh?" Happy said to her.

Lucy smiled and looked to Duke.

"Yeah I don't know what I would have done if he hadn't been there." She sighed then thought back to where she should pick up.

"I would always try and get father's attention. However it was always in vain, if I made him something he would just yell at me and say I was wasting his time and to get out of his sight. After he would yell at me he would through whatever I made him away while I was still here. Even then Duke would let me hold him until I felt better. As the years went by it only got worse. He became suspicious of Duke because he never approved of magic and mother made it a point to tell me before she died to never tell him what Duke really was. I was true to her word and never told him. Though I knew he was starting to suspect that Duke wasn't what he had seemed."

Duke remembered what she was talking about. Years ago when he wondered the mansion alone the one night, he came across her father. He stood and glared at him, when he moved to touch him Duke quickly backed away from him. The man scoffed at him and turned away from him. He heard him say that if Duke made one wrong move he would put an end to him. Duke didn't take it seriously since the man posed no real threat to him. He returned to Lucy that night and she never realized that he even left.

"So how did you come to Fairy Tail then?" Natsu asked her.

"That's where I was going next. Before we came to Magnolia the night before I left, I heard my father talking about something. He said that he was thinking about setting up some kind of arranged marriage so he wouldn't lose money and assure that his name would live on. I couldn't believe it, I knew my mother would have disapproved of his idea and I wasn't too fond of it either. Then his last words were my last straw. He was on the phone and they had mentioned Duke as well. My father told them not to worry that Duke wouldn't be in the picture for much longer."

Lucy started to cry a little as she remembered him saying those words. He wanted to get rid of the only friend she had. The only one who truly reminded her of her mother and made everything alright again. How could he just toss him aside like a doll?

"He wanted to get rid of Duke? How could he get rid of him when he the last present from your mother? And also was your friend." Natsu said a little disgusted.

"I know. That was when I decided it was time to leave. That night I packed up a bag with most of Duke's stuff as well. Then I took the key my mother had left me and went over to the vault from my mother. I used the key to unlock it and found a sufficient amount of jewels. Enough to get me started somewhere. So I took all of it and tucked it away in the bag. Once I had everything both of us snuck out and left without a word. I had heard about a guild in Magnolia and since it was close by I decided to head here. Then that's when we met all of you."

Lucy was still a little upset about what he had done but it felt better telling Natsu and Happy about it. Though what surprised her was Natsu's actions he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her a little closer to him. He then smiled to her before he finally spoke.

"I'm glad you came here Lucy. And don't worry you don't have to go back there. We're all your family now." He whispered to her.

Duke then got up and sat in front of them both, with Happy following him. Happy hugged Duke and then climbed on top of his head.

"Yup! And I never thought I'd be friends with a canine. No offense Duke." Happy said patting Duke's head.

The wolf just wagged his tail and allowed the cat to do so.

"Now don't you feel a little better now that you told someone?" he asked her.

"Yeah, you were right. I'm very happy here."

Natsu smiled and then stood up when he noticed it was getting late. He held his hand out to Lucy who gladly took it. Duke got up with Happy and they went off towards Lucy's apartment. Once they arrived Natsu made sure she got in and debated whether or not he was going to stay. He'd often found himself staying at Lucy's apartment a lot. Sure she would get mad when he did it without her knowledge but after her yelling at him the first couple times, she finally just accepted it.

"Alright so are you actually staying at home tonight or should I just let you in now so I won't be surprised in the morning."

The fire mage chuckled hearing this. He thought about it for a little bit but then finally walked past her and went into her apartment. Happy followed him in with Duke behind him. Lucy just shook her head and followed them, shutting the door behind her.

She got herself ready for bed and found that everyone else was in her bed. Normally this would be unacceptable but after being on a team and developing a close friendship with him, this became her normal.

The girl climbed into bed with them. Duke and Happy both assumed their positions they had always slept by the two.

"Night guys." Lucy said almost half asleep.

"Night Lucy." Happy and Natsu replied.


	6. Chapter 5: Damage

**Hi Everyone and Welcome Back!**

** I don't have a lot to say other than thank you to all of you who has favorite my story and those who have also been following the story. It means a lot and the more people follow the faster I like to try and start the next chapter. As long as I don't have school work or writers block of course. Anyone enough of me let's get to the story shall we?**

**~wolvesfinalden**

**Fairy Tail: By Your Side**

**Chapter 5: Damage **

It had been almost a month since Natsu, Happy, Lucy, and Duke had spent the day together. During that time she got know Gray and Erza better and also figured out how terrifying Erza was. However Lucy noticed Duke showed no signs of fear towards Erza. In fact she remembered when they first started talking to her.

Duke and Lucy had been at a table with Happy and Levy. Gray and Natsu were picking a fight with each other again. Then the next thing she knew Erza was yelling at them to stop which terrified both the mages. Lucy turned to see what was going on but before she could she heard Duke growling again. This time his ears were back and laying almost flat against his head.

She couldn't keep Duke back so the wolf ended up charging over to the three. Which in turn surprised Erza as Duke stood in front of the boys and bared his fangs at her for yelling at his friends. Erza didn't know what to do. At first she started yelling for him to back off but all that did was piss Duke off further.

The requip mage had backed up a bit but she didn't want to back down to the wolf either. Natsu stared in shock that Duke showed no sign of fear of Erza. He didn't know what to do at first but then he knew he had to stop Duke before something bad happened. Though when he went to calm Duke down, Lucy appeared out of nowhere.

"Duke you should know better it's okay. She wasn't going to hurt them." Lucy said to him as she gently stroked his fur.

Duke then calmed down and sat down to show he was fine now. Erza then smiled and walked over to the wolf. He was still uneasy about her but he allowed her to pet him.

"You're a very strong wolf aren't you? I don't think anyone stood up to me other than Mira way back when." She said to Duke.

Lucy almost laughed at the memory. After that day they all teamed up on some missions. Soon they were known as Fairy Tail's strongest team. Right now they were returning from a mission they had taken just a couple days ago. It was easy enough and thankfully they didn't go to overboard so they were able to get most of the reward money. Which meant Lucy was able to make rent and have some extra spending money.

"I can't wait to get back. I'm a little tired." Lucy sighed.

Duke whimpered in agreement. Duke had fought with Natsu but the wolf would always afraid to leave Lucy alone for too long.

"Yeah some rest would do us some good." Erza commented.

As they were walking Duke got ahead of the group but all the sudden he stopped in his tracks. He was sniffing the air and his fur was standing on end. Lucy noticed first and got to his side.

"What's wrong boy?" she asked him in a worried tone.

Duke then looked from Lucy and he motioned up ahead. Lucy tried to see if anything was wrong but she couldn't see anything.

"Luce what's wrong?" Natsu asked her.

"I have no idea. Duke must sense something up ahead."

Then the wolf looked to Natsu and the rest of the group. The rest didn't notice what he was looking, however Lucy followed his gazed and realized exactly what he was looking at, on everyone of them. Her eyes widened as she looked at Natsu. The dragon-slayer stared at her a little worried about what she might have to say.

"Luce? What is it?" Natsu asked.

She paused for a second then looked back up ahead. It all made sense to what was bothering Duke. The wolf knew how to give hints to his master very well.

"Something is wrong. Something must have happened at the guild. Is that what you were meaning Duke?"

The wolf nodded then pulled on her skirt gently so she would hurry and follow. She made no hesitation in following him as he sprinted towards the guild. The others weren't far behind, Natsu kept close by Lucy while Happy flew above Duke just about as fast as the wolf was running.

When they reached the guild, they were all shocked and horrified. The guild had rods of iron all through the building. It had to have destroyed a lot of the inside as well. Duke was the first to recover and ran over by the doors sniffing the air. He made his way to the basement, following the scent of the guild members that were there.

Lucy and Natsu were right behind him with Happy close behind. Erza and Gray were not too far behind them when they reached the basement. Everyone seemed to have gathered here. The request board was down stairs and they also set up a bar down there as well. The team slowly walked over to find the master and when they did Natsu didn't hesitate to demand answers.

"What the hell happened here gramps?!" he shouted.

However it before the master could answer Mirajane came up to them and answered.

"We're not sure. It happened after everyone went home for the night. So for now we have to operate down here for the time being."

Natsu was still disgusted that no one seemed to be doing anything about it. Duke noticed his distress so he moved from Lucy and made his way over to the dragon-slayer, while he was ranting to the two mages.

"How can everyone just sit around and not do anything!? Aren't you as pissed off as I am?!" Natsu screamed.

While the fire mage was ranting he felt something brush up against him. He was about to yell again but towards whatever it was that brushed his hand. However he stopped when he looked down to see Duke. The wolf had his ears back and his head down. He paused and realized that he wasn't the only one upset about all of this.

Then the fire mage felt someone rub his back and he didn't have to turn to see who it was. He could smell Lucy's scent beside him. That's when he finally calmed himself down. Duke and Lucy may still have been new but this was their home too. He wasn't alone in feeling like this, but still he wanted to know why they weren't doing anything.

"Gramps why aren't we doing anything?" Natsu asked him this time with some concern in his voice that replaced the anger that was once there.

"We can't do anything now Natsu." Mira answered for him. "The council won't allow fights between the guilds and you know that."

"Yeah but they're the ones picking the fight!" Natsu yelled.

Duke then whimpered softly to try and calm Natsu down again. The dragon slayer heard him and slowly moved his hand to his head again.

"Natsu all we can do is operate here. It kills me to wait like this but the council will have my head if we take this into our own hands now. So just wait and let me take care of this." The master finally said.

That's when Natsu decided to walk away. He grabbed Lucy by the arm and they walked out of the guild with Happy and Duke trailing behind them. Lucy was slightly confused as to why he dragged them out of there. Although she just followed him until they were out by the cliff that out looked the water below.

He finally stopped and sat down on the ground. Allowing his feet to dangle off the edge. Lucy took a seat beside him and looked out at the water for a little bit before finally saying something.

"Natsu, why did you bring me out here?" She asked him.

The fire mage sighed and noticed that Happy and Duke had now joined them. They were probably wondering the same thing themselves.

"I just needed to get out of there. I thought you might want to, too."

"What's really bothering you?" Lucy asked him.

"Fine, the guild's never been attacked like this before. I hate the thought that anyone could have been hurt. It just really pisses me off."

Duke then came beside Lucy and looked out at the now setting sun. The wolf didn't like water all that much but he didn't mind looking at it.

"Well we better get home. Come on Duke." Lucy said.

The wolf got up and followed her but then stopped to look back Natsu and Happy. He noticed Natsu looked uneasy and the cat looked a little confused. Duke was going to walk up to them to see if they were alright but then he noticed that Lucy was still heading back home. So the wolf ran after his master without a second thought.

"Lucy wait." Natsu called.

The celestial mage stopped for a second and waited for Natsu to say something. However the dragon slayer and the feline simply walked up to them. The fire mage then began walking in the direction of Lucy's apartment.

"Come on I'm not letting you and Duke by yourselves for a while. Not with all of this going on." Natsu said as he walked.

Lucy looked over to Duke who only motioned to the direction the fire mage was walking. Then he got up and began to follow him. Lucy took a moment before she finally followed the rest of them. Who knew Natsu was worried about all of this. She had never seen him like this before. She just hoped that this would all blow over soon and that everything would just go back to the way it was.

That night not only was Natsu and Happy staying with the wolf and celestial mage but also their other two teammates, Gray and Erza. At first Natsu told them to get out, that the four of them were just fine by themselves. Then of course Erza threatened the poor dragon-slayer, who had backed down without a second thought.

However Lucy was too tired to deal with everyone. So she headed to her room for the night quickly followed by her wolf. She got changed and crawled into her bed. Duke followed her laid down next to her. It was peaceful for a little bit until Lucy heard her door. She expected Duke to get up to the noise but she didn't feel the canine move.

"Luce you awake?"

Lucy turned to see Natsu standing by her bed. He then moved and sat down beside her. Though she couldn't find Erza, Gray, or Happy.

"Where are the others?" Lucy asked.

"There in the other room. Erza is kind of snooping around and Gray is trying to get some sleep on the couch. Happy is coming in, in a minute. I think he was looking for something to eat."

Then the fire mage climbed into the bed next to her and Duke. Lucy had no objections to his actions. Happy then snuck into the room and climbed in with the rest of them. He laid next to Duke like always.

"Natsu, why do you guys always want to sleep here?"

"Because we're a team. Plus tonight I'm a little paranoid about what had happened today. I just feel better knowing your safe here with us."

That was the first time Lucy ever heard the dragon-slayer sound so worried and serious. Yeah the guild was trashed but no one was hurt. That was one thing to be thankful for.

"I see, then thank you Natsu." Lucy said with a smile.

They all then fell asleep that night, thinking everything was fine. Sadly the next morning that would all change.

**And that is it for this chapter. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The next update should be pretty soon and I hope to see you all then.**

**~wolvesfinalden**


	7. Chapter 6: War Between Guilds

**Hello Everyone!**

** I just want to thank everyone. I've gotten more favs and follows for this story. Not only that I got some reviews as well. It means a lot to me and motivates me to try and update the story as quick as I can. SO once again thanks you guys! Now on with the story.**

**~wolvesfinalden**

**Fairy Tail: By Your Side**

**Chapter 6: War between Guilds**

The next morning Lucy was the first one awake, along with Duke and Erza. Lucy set out some food for them all to eat and for the boys once they got up themselves. Everything seemed peaceful, like yesterday was just some bad dream.

"Do you think they did anything to the guild last night?" Lucy asked a little worried.

Erza looked up and then proceeded to shake her head.

"No I don't think they would attack us twice under the same circumstance. To be honest I'm wondering if they decided to do something else. I've just been having this bad feeling ever since yesterday." Erza told her.

"I hope not. I mean what could we have done for all of this to happen?"

"Who knows, some guilds like to start fights with other guilds. They think it shows everyone else how powerful they are. Just a way to scare others so they stay in their place. In my opinion it's just a cowardly move."

Duke left the girls for the time being to wake up the others. He noticed Gray first, who happened to be sleeping on the couch. The wolf walked over and first just tried to nudge him. When that didn't work he managed to pull on his boxers enough that he finally fell to the ground, jolting the ice mage awake.

"Jeez Duke, I'm up." Gray mumbled looking at the canine.

Once he was up the wolf moved back into Lucy's bedroom. He saw Natsu had his arm still on Lucy's side of the bed but was sprawled out over the rest of the bed. Happy had managed to make his way down a little towards the middle of the bed.

Duke tried to figure out which way would be best. He moved to Happy first just gently nudging his feline friend. Luckily the cat woke up easily and greeted the wolf.

"Morning Duke." He said.

The wolf then looked to Happy and back over to Natsu, who was still snoring away. Happy then caught on and began to smile and giggle.

"I see wake up Natsu hmm."

Duke then jumped up on the bed and made his way over to the fire mage. He tried to be nice and nudge him first, however he knew from the start that it probably wouldn't work anyway. Once the dragon-slayer didn't even move a muscle, Duke decided to take more drastic measures. Happy managed to get over to Lucy's desk and sat on her chair, so he would be out of the way.

The white wolf moved close enough to Natsu, puffed out his chest, and finally let out a loud howl. This caused the fire mage to jolt awake and fall completely off the bed to the floor. Once Duke stopped, Natsu recovered and glared a little at Duke, before he finally busted out laughing.

"Alright Duke you got me. I swear though if I'm ever up before you, you're going to get it." Natsu joked as he walked out of the room.

"I don't think that will happen anytime soon, right Duke?" Happy laughed as he started to make his way out of the room as well.

Duke nodded and followed Happy out. They found everyone else in the kitchen getting ready to head to the guild for the day. Once everyone had everything together they made their way out of the apartment. As they walked all seemed well, until someone screamed.

"What the hell was that?!" Gray and Natsu both shouted.

"Come on we have to check it out!" Erza yelled.

However Duke and Lucy were already ahead of her. Happy managed to climb on top of Duke, riding on his friend to the scene. The other three trailed close behind. Once they reached the source of the screams the ones in the lead stopped dead in their tracks. Duke let out growls and snarls as he saw what had caused the screams. While Lucy stared in shock and brought her hand up to her mouth. Happy couldn't look at the scene anymore and buried his head into Duke's neck fur.

Then Natsu and the others showed up. Erza was outraged along with Gray, while Natsu was now beyond pissed. He couldn't describe how he felt in words. This had gone way too far. There up on the big tree was team Shadow Gear and painted on Levy's stomach was the mark of the guild Phantom Lord.

"Levy." Lucy whispered as her eyes began to spill tears.

Natsu noticed this and walked over to her. The blonde felt him place a hand on her shoulder and she couldn't help but cry into him. She just couldn't handle the sight of her friends in this kind of state. After all how could anyone?

Duke's fur was all ruffled as he stared at the scene. Something had to be done about this and the wolf could only hope it was soon. This wasn't just a stupid game anymore, no this…was war.

Duke and Lucy stayed behind in the town much to their dismay, while the others in the guild were on their way over to the Phantom Lord guild. The master finally said enough was enough. He said that they had finally claimed war over them, so now they had to take action, before anyone else was hurt.

While they were gone the wolf and the celestial mage kept watch over team Shadow Gear, who was now recovering in their infirmary. Lucy would bring books and read them to Levy, just in case she could hear her. While Duke sat with her to keep her company. The two kept up this routine for the day until finally deciding to head home. Though before they took the route home Lucy remembered that they needed more food. So she went ahead and bought groceries and now the two were making their way home.

"I wish we were there with them Duke. I would feel a lot better but I guess someone has to stay back to watch over those three." Lucy sighed.

Duke nodded as he walked beside her. He was itching to get back at these jerks who dared attack his new home.

They were almost home when Duke noticed the sudden change in weather. He stopped in front of Lucy, so she wouldn't go any further without him. Lucy noticed and tried to find the source of the weird weather change. It wasn't until she heard Duke's growls that she saw two people walking towards her. It was a man and a woman but it was the woman that caught her attention. She seemed a little strange and was oddly prepared for the weather change, which was now pouring down rain on them.

Duke didn't like how they felt as they approached. He felt hostility from them as they approached and noticed that they had powerful magic as well.

"Drip, Drop" The woman with blue hair said as she walked to them.

The wolf just growled as she approached not moving from Lucy.

"My what a strange wolf. I bet even you despise the rain and the water. Drip, Drop." She said as she approached.

"What do you want?" Lucy asked.

"Why simple girly we want you." The man replied.

"What? Why me?" she asked.

"Master's orders." He replied.

Duke growled even louder, now showing his fangs to the strangers. No way in hell were these people going to take away his master. How dare they even try!

"How about you shut them both up Juvia." The man barked.

"Drip, Drop." She replied

Then out of nowhere a sphere of water encircled the two. It then began to lift off the ground. Duke started to panic a little, remembering that he couldn't swim. While Lucy was scrambling to try and get to Aquarius's key before it was too late. However the more they tried to fight the harder it became for them to move.

"I control the water. Drip, Drop." Juvia said as she made the sphere tighter.

_'No. This can't happen. Duke can't swim and I'm losing my strength. If only I can reach Aquarius's key. Then hopefully we'll be out of this horrible mess.'_ Lucy thought.

Duke tried to activate his magical power but was finding it a little useless. He was too focused on trying to breathe. He feared that Lucy would soon lose consciousness and along with him. He felt more magical power coming from the water mage and started to feel exhausted. He looked back to Lucy and noticed that she had dropped her keys. They were now on the ground beside the grocery bag she dropped. The next thing he noticed was now the blonde was completely unconscious. Duke tried to wake her up but he didn't have a lot of energy left either. Soon all the wolf could see was the blackness engulfing him.

Natsu and the others made it over to the Phantom Lord guild and busted down the wall. They managed to start an all out brawl with the members. Natsu didn't care who got in his way, he was so angry, so upset that it just didn't matter anymore. He was just glad that Lucy was home safe with Duke and he didn't have to worry about them. At least that's what he had thought.

The master had made his way up the stairs to find their master. Leaving the rest of the guild for Erza to handle. When he got to the room he meet his old enemy. He sat in a chair waiting for him and happily greeted him. While Makarov just pounded his fists in anger. How dare he take advantage of his children like this! How dare he sit there and act so smug. Though something else bothered the Master as he looked at the Phantom Lord master. Something didn't add up here, no he had to have something else up his sleeve.

Makarov was about to ask him what else he had done. However he was answered when an image of a certain blonde showed up on the ground below the Phantom Lord master's feet.

"Lucy!" The master said in surprise.

Duke woke up in a matter of minutes. He smelled small traces of the two strangers with Lucy. Sadly the rain washed away most of their scent, making it difficult to track them. Though Duke wouldn't dare let that stop him from finding Lucy. Not when she needed him.

The white wolf then decided to follow the scent the guild left behind. Believing that they might have taken her to the same area the guild had went. Duke didn't take long to reach the guild. When he got there he still couldn't find a fresh scent of the two strangers. The only scents he found were stale. Duke quickly ran inside and saw the huge brawl going on.

The canine tried to scan the area for any sign of Lucy. When he couldn't find one he was going to turn around and head out, until he heard a huge crash. This caused the wolf to shift his attention to the now creator in the floor. He saw as the guild members tried to make out exactly who it was. Though it was Erza who had answered the wolf's question.

"Master!" she screamed as she ran to him.

"Gramps." Natsu said in a loud whisper.

Duke noticed Natsu and tried to make his way over to him. Hoping that the dragon-slayer might have seen where they had taken Lucy.

The wolf heard the master mumble about his magic power being gone, and even as a wolf he knew that it wasn't a good sign. That's when Duke heard a darker voice. He mentioned his master's name and he looked up to the ceiling boards of the guild hall. There he found two men but the one he focused on had iron piercings and red eyes, with black hair.

Duke took no time to begin growling and let out a terrifying bark. Which drew everyone's attention. The wolf had looked something like a demon the way he glared up at the iron mage. That's when Natsu walked over to Duke, remembering hearing what Gajeel had said. He looked up and began to yell.

"GAJEEL!"

"We'll have to do this again Salamander." He said before disappearing with the other man.

The wolf glared as he lost his last trace of where his master might be. He then noticed that Natsu had finally turned to him with concerned eyes. While Happy managed to show up beside Duke looking a little worried himself.

"Duke, why are you here? Where's Lucy?" he asked in a worried tone.

Duke looked back up to the spot where Gajeel was and proceeded to growl. Then he looked down in shame, feeling that he had failed Lucy.

"They took her didn't they? That's what he was talking about." Natsu said now a little angry.

Duke nodded as he looked back up into the fire mage's eyes. Happy then patted Dukes side as he looked back to Natsu.

"Come on you two. Where going to get her back." Natsu said marching out of the guild.

They noticed that their guild had retreated but still kept pushing forward. Duke sniffed around trying to catch her scent but he wasn't having any luck. Natsu as beginning to worry himself as he tried the same thing as Duke, trying to pick up the blonde's scent. Duke was beginning to pick up his pace as the other two followed quickly behind. Natsu started to smell faint traces of Lucy's scent.

The wolf was now sprinting over to the tower now in view. Duke could tell for sure that she was there. He then let out a howl as he ran, trying to give his master some assurance that they were close by.

Meanwhile Lucy and the master of Phantom Lord were in the middle of a talk. The master had been paid to take Lucy back home and allowed to use whatever force necessary. The blonde didn't know what he wanted now, he had never cared in the past but remembering the phone call, she was now as desperate as ever to get out of there. No way in hell was she going back. Not if it meant Duke's life.

When she managed to reach the doorway in the cell, she looked down and noticed that they were way too high up for her to simply jump down. If she did now she'd die for sure. That is until she heard a voice in the wind. Her eyes widened as she listened, the howl was all too familiar. She then turned around the face him again.

"You're not going to get away with this you know. It will just be a matter of time before you are finally with your dear father again." He said to her.

"No. Never again." She whispered.

Lucy then let herself fall backwards, flying down towards the ground. Sure it may have seemed rash but not when she was so sure she would be fine.

_'I heard them. I heard you both in the distance. Your both here aren't you. All of you.'_ She thought as she fell.

"Natsu! Duke!"

A howl once again echoed in response.

"Lucy!" Natsu yelled out again.

Duke and Natsu both accelerated their speed as they saw her fall. Duke kept up with Natsu easily but he knew the dragon slayer would have a better shot at catching her than himself. The wolf then got behind the fire mage and pushed him forward as he was about to jump up, giving him an extra boost towards her.

Natsu caught her just seconds before she hit the ground. The two then landed into a broken brick wall, with Lucy on top and Natsu on the bottom. Duke and Happy both hurried over to them as they inspected the two making sure they were alright.

Duke noticed the binds that Lucy had on her wrists and used his teeth to break the rope. Lucy then hugged her wolf and thanked him. She turned to Natsu and Happy and thanked them as well. Then she turned her face away from them.

The wolf looked at her in worry and walked over to her front to get a better look at her face. He saw she had some tears in her eyes. He then walked up close to her face and licked away her tears.

"Duke it's all my fault. The reason why everyone was getting hurt, why Phantom Lord attacked the guild. It's all because of me." She said as she hugged him around his neck once more.

Natsu heard her words and walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder. This caused Lucy to pull away from Duke, to look at him. His eyes showed concern as he looked at her.

"Lucy how is this your fault? You didn't do anything wrong." He said.

She then put her head down a little but Natsu caught her and held up her chin so she would look at him.

"Natsu, remember what I told you about my father?"

The fire mage nodded as he remembered the horrible man.

"He's the one who paid them to kidnap me. He told them to do whatever they needed in order to get me."

Natsu's eyes widened as he heard her words.

"Lucy, it's not your fault that he did that. You had nothing to do with it. Your part of Fairy Tail now, it's not just yours and Duke's fight anymore. We are all family here and whether you like it or not we're always going to back you up." Natsu said to her.

Lucy then looked at Natsu and sighed. She knew his words were true but there was another way she could put a stop to this. However just the thought made her upset and unhappy. Sure it was selfish to feel this way, but who in their right mind would want to go back to a man like that?

"There is another way to make this all stop though." Lucy said in a sad tone.

"What did you have in mind?" Natsu asked her.

"Duke and I could return home."

Happy and Natsu looked shocked her answer. There was no way she would want to go back there. Then Natsu felt something in his chest as he realized what her going home would mean. The dragon-slayer then got a determined look on his face as he took Lucy's hand.

"Luce, you don't have to go home. You and Duke are going to stay here. We'll face this together and that's how it's always going to be, right Happy?"

"Aye sir!" Happy said cheerfully.

He then hugged Lucy and Happy got up on Duke's head. After a minute they were heading back home to the guild.

_'This fight may have started because of Duke and myself. However we're going to be the ones that finally end this. My father isn't going to have his way this time. Never again.'_

**And there you go! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. The next one will be out shortly! Thank you guys for reading and until next chapter! **

**~wolvesfinalden**


	8. Chapter 7: Learning to Live

**Hello Everyone!**

** Welcome back everyone and thanks for the reviews I got, I appreciate them so thank you guys. Don't be afraid to give me suggestions I really don't mind them, in fact sometimes I like to throw them in if they fit well into the story, or simply I just really like it. So long as I didn't already have the story planned out that far ahead. So once again thank you all for the reviews, favs, and follows. **

**~wolvesfinalden**

**Fairy Tail: By Your Side**

**Chapter 7: Learning To Live**

When they returned to the guild Lucy became distant and for a little bit only confided in was Duke. After about an hour she started acting like herself again. The guild was preparing for the worst from Phantom Lord. They weren't just going to let this whole thing go so easily, this had to end with a winner.

Duke was on edge ever since they came back home. He never leaved Lucy's side and if she even moved an inch he would move closer to her. The wolf wasn't ever going to let her be taken like that ever again. It made his fur stand on edge at just the thought of them taking her back to that awful place. Duke never really felt threatened by her father, he knew if it came to it that he could take the man down easily. Not to mention Lucy wouldn't let him lay a finger on Duke if he had the chance.

Natsu had also been uneasy like Duke. He always made sure Lucy was in his sights and if she wasn't he would have a small panic attack, until he could find her again. Not to mention he had to keep up with what the guild was planning as a defense, so they were prepared for Phantom's next move.

Things around the guild were a little unsettling. Since the master was still recovering over at Porlyusica's for the time being. Erza was taking charge of things while Mira tried to help those who were hurt. Happy was trying to eat his fish but was losing his appetite at the thought of fighting those mages again.

Duke noticed the feline looking upset and luckily he was close enough to him and Lucy, that he could feel comfortable moving over to Happy, knowing Lucy was close to him. He moved over and nudged the feline's cheek. The cat looked up to him and hugged his muzzle. He understood how he felt, nothing about this was settling.

"So we're just supposed to wait around until they attack us!" Natsu finally yelled.

"Natsu we have too many injured. We can't go looking for a fight." Erza tried to say calmly.

Natsu almost argued back but knew she was right. He hated to admit that but there were in no condition to go looking for a fight.

Lucy and Duke went home not to long after Natsu's outburst. She needed time to figure out how they were going to about this whole mess. Duke and herself got them all involved in this and she had to find some way to get them out.

"Duke we need some kind of plan." Lucy said to her friend.

Duke nodded and went into her bedroom. She waited until he found one of her old books. When he came back in his jaws was an old book her mother would always read to them before she passed away. After that Lucy would often read it in memory of her mother and also read it to Duke.

Lucy took the book and looked at the title and smiled. The front of the book read the familiar title, _'The Lion King'. _ Looking from the book to Duke, she began to wonder why the wolf decided to bring her this particular book.

"What are you trying to say boy?" she asked him.

Duke then used his paw to flip to the end of the book. The book showed Simba on top of Pride Rock, roaring as he took his place as the next king. Duke motioned to the lion with his nose then grabbed Lucy's keys, making sure that only the gold keys she acquired were showing.

"Lion, gate keys. Hmm." Lucy had to think for a moment about each of the golden keys.

They were all zodiacs but at first she couldn't figure out which one would represent the lion from the book. That is until she remembered who the king was of the zodiac keys.

"Leo the Lion. Is that what you're saying?"

Duke nodded his head and then put his paw on her right hand. Looking down she saw he was on her guild mark and when she looked to her wolf again he looked out the window to the guild. Then returning his gaze back to her.

"Duke is Leo in Fairy Tail?" she asked him in shock.

The wolf nodded.

"But how is that possible? Celestial spirits can't stay in the human world for long. It would kill them."

Duke hurried up and ran out the door hoping Lucy would follow close behind her. Which the girl did and the Duke led the way to where he sensed the lion spirit. He wasn't far off and he knew that he still had enough strength to stay in Earth land for a while longer but he needed help, not to mention he would prove more useful in their upcoming battle.

Lucy and Duke came to a stop in a meadow not far off from the town. There they saw Loke standing and looking up at the setting sky. She could hear him whispering apologizes to the sky, something about how nothing could make up for what he had done. What he had done was utterly unforgivable.

The celestial mage started walking up to Loke. At first she thought there was no way he could be Leo, he didn't seem like a spirit to her. However she knew Duke wasn't wrong about these things, he had a special connection with the celestial spirits. So as she got closer a lot of things about Loke made sense. How he was uncomfortable around celestial mages, why he would run away from her when he saw her. Why he knew so much about her keys.

"Loke." Lucy said as she was standing behind him.

The mage turned around and noticed Lucy. At first he was going to run off, until he noticed Duke standing behind her shaking his head not to. Loke then turned to Lucy waiting for her to say something.

"Loke, you're really Leo the lion aren't you?" she asked him.

Loke looked shocked at first but then nodded his head as a response.

"Yeah. How did you figure that out?" he asked her.

Lucy just smiled as she looked over to Duke.

"Duke was the one that knew. He gave me some clues and I figured it out from there."

"I see, so it is true that wolves can see spirits. I never really believed it until now."

"Loke why are you here. Did something happen to make you stay in our world?"

Loke paused and looked down in shame. He never came to terms with what he did. Not a second goes by that he regrets his actions.

"I broke the law. I did something awful Lucy."

"You can tell me."

"Fine, but I know you won't like it. It's something unforgivable."

"Loke just tell me."

"…I caused the death of my last celestial mage."

Lucy was shocked but did her best to brush it off. After all there is always a side to the story. Lucy wasn't going to judge him until she heard the whole story.

"Loke, how did that happen? I don't think you deliberately killed your mage right? I want to know the whole story."

Loke nodded and told her what had happened with his last mage, Karen. How she abused Aries and Loke had finally had enough of it. So in order to end her suffering, he switched places with Aries and demanded that they'd be released from their contract. However Karen refused, making Loke take drastic measures and stayed in their world until she would finally release them. As a month went by she still refused making false promises to treat them better. Loke never wavered on his end and finally Karen took a dangerous job, trying to open to gates at once and it ended up killing her.

When Duke heard his story he knew that Loke was truly innocent. That the law of the celestial world was wrong in this case. If he had been in Loke's place he would not have hesitated to have done the same thing.

Lucy felt the same way as she heard the story. Loke started tearing up at the thought and Lucy hugged him. Telling him that her death wasn't his fault, that it was Karen's choice to go on that job. That she chose to take that risk, which in the end took her life.

"So Loke are you here because you can't go home?" she asked him.

"Yeah, my punishment is banishment from the Celestial World. I can't go back which means I'll soon fade away." He said sadly.

Lucy shook her head.

"No Loke. Not if I have anything to say about it. We'll talk to the Celestial King and get you back home."

"Lucy I appreciate it but I don't want to go back. I deserve this punishment." He said to her.

"No you don't Loke. Do you honestly think Karen would want you to waste away? Do you think she wants you to feel that way? I know she may have been harsh on you guys but I'm sure she regrets how she treated you guys. Doing all of this is just spitting on her grave Loke. No one would ever want someone to just waste away because of them. You're supposed to live for the people you care about." Lucy told him.

Loke stared at Lucy in shock. He had always thought he was doing the right thing in following Karen. Allowing himself to suffer the way Karen did. Hearing Lucy's words made him rethink everything, however even if he wanted to he couldn't go back home. There was no way to undo the law.

"Even if I wanted to continue living, it's too late. I can't change our laws. No one can."

Duke then growled and looked up now to the moon and let out a loud howl. Then in a flash Lucy and Loke found themselves before Karen's grave. Lucy turned to Duke who's fur was glowing a brighter white with a tint of gold. His eyes were completely gold as another figure appeared before the two.

Loke looked from Duke up to the sky where he found the celestial king. He stood before them and Duke approached and remained at Lucy's side.

"Old friend who has summoned me. The wolf that walks among the stars. Something is wrong so tell me old friend what is it?"

Lucy was surprised that Duke was able to even call the Celestial King. She didn't know why he could or even how but she was just thankful for the time being he could. She'd have to figure out how he did later, right now she needed to focus on saving Loke.

Duke looked up to the spirit and looked to his master, waiting for her to answer him.

"Mustache man it's unfair that Loke is being punished for something that he didn't even do!" she yelled up to him.

"My dear old friend Leo, has caused the death of another old friend. Though he may not have killed her himself, he still was the main cause that brought on her death."

"He may have been the reason she had to open to gates but Loke never intentionally did it! You can't tell me that you for a second wouldn't have done the same! I know if I were in his place I wouldn't have hesitated for a moment to do the exact same thing! He was protecting Aries from her! Karen knew the dangers of the mission and knew what could happen if she opened another gate! She did it anyway! Maybe for once your law is wrong! This whole situation is just wrong! A life for a life! When he had nothing but good intentions! He didn't murder her!" Lucy yelled to the spirit.

Duke watched as Lucy yelled to the king. She was right about all of this and that's why he used his magic to bring them here. He knew the king was watching them and knew he would hear Duke's call. This had to be settled and he wasn't leaving until Loke was allowed to return home.

"Dear old friend Leo, maybe it was not you who was in the wrong but the law is wrong. They are right to question this and for this I will grant you a right back home, Leo. Your friends have missed you and will welcome you back with open arms. Old friend Duke, thank you for bringing me here to fix this." The celestial king then went back home.

Loke was in shock. He was finally able to return home. Lucy hugged him and Loke looked back to the sky. He still felt he hadn't made up for Karen's death.

"I still haven't made up for my actions."

Duke then let another howl and another voice filled the air.

"Dear old friend Leo. If you feel that you haven't been punished enough then I suggest you serve the friends that saved your own life. I believe serving Lucy and protecting that guild of yours is a good enough task don't you think." The Celestial King spoke.

The three were then left alone and Duke walked up to Lucy. A key appeared on his collar. Loke smiled as he took his key from Duke.

"I believe this belongs with you now." He said as he handed his key to Lucy.

Lucy smiled and Duke wagged his tail.

"Now come on. We have a guild to fight for." Loke said.

"Right come on Duke."

Duke then ran after however before he did he heard another voice. When he turned around he saw a girl with green hair smiling at him. The wolf walked over to her and allowed the spirit to touch him. Shockingly enough her hand didn't faze through him, instead it touched him.

"Thank you. I was afraid that he would fade away because of me." Karen said.

Looking in the direction of the two she smiled and looked down to Duke.

"It's about time he moved on. I'm glad that he is with a mage that is fair and true." Karen said before finally fading away.

Duke watched until she was gone. He then quickly ran after his master and her spirit. Things were going to change and this time Fairy Tail had the upper hand.

**Well that's it for now! I hope you guys liked the little mixing of episodes. I thought it would be neat for Loke to take part in the fight as a celestial spirit so he has a little more power. Plus you get to see Duke's powers on the spirit side. If you are confused about his powers, wolves in this story have a strong connection with spirits. All of them can see them but not all have a strong connection with celestial spirits, like Duke does. More will come on that later. Just thought I should clear that up in case anyone is confused. Anyways thank you for reading and until next time guys!**

**~wolvesfinalden**


	9. Chapter 8: Attack on Fairy Tail

**Hello Everyone and Welcome Back!**

** Thank you once again for the reviews and follows/favorites, I really appreciate it. Also if you want to see any upcoming stories, you can see the names for them on my profile page. They are all in progress at the moment just have to put some finishing touches on them. Also I'm thinking about trying to a panel at a con with some other friends for FanFiction. If you know any info about that I would appreciate any suggestions or other information about how to enter. Thank you guys! Now on to the story!**

**~wolvesfinalden**

**Fairy Tail: By Your Side**

**Chapter 8: Attack on Fairy Tail**

Lucy and Duke had been training together for the past couple days for an attack from Phantom, which could happen at any moment now. Duke's assisting magic has gotten stronger over the past few days. Lucy had been hoping that they element side would grow as well but so far they haven't been able to perform it successfully yet.

Loke was rather impressed with the duo. He had been able to recover enough during the few days by staying in the celestial world during that time. He'd come every now and then to help them out with training and he could sense power coming from the wolf. The more he watched the wolf train with Lucy, he realized what it was. It almost seemed like power was seeping out of a lock.

_'If that power is unlocked, they could give the master a run for his money.'_ Loke thought.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Natsu and Happy had been trying to focus on anything besides Phantom Lord. The more Natsu thought about it, the angrier he got. Half the time he had to keep himself from sniffing them out himself and taking them down. However he managed to keep himself from doing that, thanks to Erza's threats and of course pleas from Lucy.<p>

Natsu realized he hadn't seen her or Duke in a few days. The last time he saw her was when they came to the guild 2 days ago. Duke and Lucy had come with Loke, explaining that Loke was actually one of the golden keys. He knew that wasn't the name but to be completely honest he wasn't paying too much attention. After all they did come while he was stuffing his face.

"Natsu, I have a bad feeling." Happy said looking up at the sky.

The dragon-slayer looked up to the sky as well and could understand why his cat felt that way. He felt it too, an ominous feeling in the air.

_'So they picked today huh? About time.'_ He thought.

Natsu then stood up and started making his way over to Lucy's.

"Happy come on!" he yelled.

"Aye sir!"

The two made it to her apartment and entered through her bedroom window. It wasn't long before they were greeted by Duke. He tackled the two down to the ground and licked Natsu's face, making the fire mage laugh. Then finally got off of them. He made his way out to get his master.

Happy was about to follow Duke until he noticed Natsu not following them. He looked over to his friend and saw the fire mage staring out the window. Concern was plastered across his face as he looked outside. The blue cat walked over to him and pulled on his pant leg.

` "Natsu, are you okay?" he asked him.

At first the dragon-slayer didn't even answer him. His thoughts were all drawn to what Phantom Lord might do now. There was no doubt that they would attack today, he could sense something was going to happen.

"I'm fine Happy but just between us," he then moved down beside Happy and looked him in the eyes. "Lucy and Duke aren't to leave our sights, got that?" he told him.

"Yeah sure but why?"

"Phantom Lord is after Lucy because of her father. She feels like this is all her fault remember. That's why we have to watch them and make sure they don't give in to them, or do something they'll regret." Natsu told him.

"You really care about her don't you Natsu?"

He paused before he answered. Of course he cared, he cared about everyone in Fairy Tail but there was just something about Lucy that made his feelings stronger. The fire mage couldn't really understand what this was, nor did he care at the moment. All that mattered was the here and now, right?

"Yeah I do Happy. I care about Duke too. I think it's just because this is our team. I like how it is and I don't want it to go back to before we met them. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Yeah."

Happy smiled, he loved the fact that they finally had a big team. More so that he had someone other than the mages of Fairy Tail to talk to. Duke was more like him and made it easier to play with. Of course he liked Lucy too, after all he wouldn't pick on her now and again if he didn't.

After their talk Duke entered the room with Lucy behind him. The wolf now looked a little more on edge as he stared at the window. Natsu noticed and realized that Duke was now picking up the bad vibes around the area.

"What is it Natsu? Why'd you come over?" Lucy asked.

Though she knew he usually came over every so often but not with this serious look on his face. Something was up and she didn't know why but she felt really uneasy this morning.

"I've been having a bad feeling ever since I woke up this morning. I thought it was just my mind playing tricks on me however, I think now it's certain. Phantom Lord is going to attack today." He said in an oddly serious tone.

"Why not go to the guild first? I mean they need us right?!" Lucy said a little freaked out.

She was about to run out the door until Natsu grabbed her arm.

"Lucy do me a favor today and stay near me." He whispered to her.

"Natsu…"

"Come on let's go."

He then pulled her along behind him, while the other two were on their heels. They managed to reach the guild in record time and luckily nothing had happened to it yet. Though when they greeted everyone, they all seemed uneasy as well.

"Natsu! Lucy! Duke! Cat!" Erza shouted as she marched towards them.

She came up in front of them and from what Lucy could see, their red haired friend was somewhat poker faced but had a small hint of concern in her eyes.

"Did you notice it too?"

"If you mean having a bad feeling about today then yeah. Ever since Happy and I got up this morning we felt it, wasn't until we got to Lucy that I actually started to sense it."

"That means they are coming then." Erza said.

She then turned and began barking orders at the others. They all quickly began to prepare themselves for the battle to come.

Lucy and Duke on the other hand stood near the exit. She knew she promised Natsu to stay near him however, this was their fight. They had to finish it themselves or they couldn't move on from their past.

"Duke this is what we were training for. Are you ready boy?" She asked him.

Duke looked up and nodded at his master letting out a soft growl. He wasn't about to let them win.

* * *

><p>Phantom Lord finally approached, they arrived in some sort of huge vehicle. To Duke it looked like a flying mansion. Though he could smell and sense magic all around the thing. All the members were inside but the ones posing the big threat were the elemental four and of course their dragon-slayer Gajeel.<p>

Lucy backed up with Duke standing in front of her as he bared his fangs to them. He was going to show them no mercy.

"Hand over the girl and we'll leave peacefully." One of the elemental four said.

` "As if we'd just give her to you!" Natsu yelled in rage.

Erza looked to Natsu slightly confused she looked towards Lucy and Duke whose expressions showed no emotion at the moment. Mira noticed this and walked over to Lucy.

"Lucy what are they talking about?" she asked her.

Lucy sighed as she turned to the girl. They had to know eventually, she had originally hoped to keep this a secret but there was no way that was going to happen, not with Phantom Lord going after her. She had just wished she had told them all before this happened.

"They are being paid by my father to take me back. I only found out when they took me a few days ago. I'm sorry I should have told you guys from the start but I was hoping this could be resolved without that." Lucy said.

"Why would your father pay them to drag you home?"

"Before I left he said about marrying me off to someone. That way he could ensure his company won't fall. He also wants Duke gone, knowing him he'll try and get rid of Duke himself. He's not a nice man Mira, he never was, not after my mother died." She said as she looked up to the machine.

"Lucy we won't let them take you back. You do know that right?"

"Natsu told me. He was the only one that knew the whole story."

"It'll be alright Lucy, we're Fairy Tail after all and your family now whether you like it or not." Mira said with a confident smile.

Lucy smiled back, this is what she had wanted for the longest time. A place she could call home, where she had friends or in her case now family that actually cared about her. Looking back over to Duke who was still focused on Phantom Lord but acknowledged Mira's words by wagging his tail.

"I'm all fired up!" Natsu shouted as he dashed after Gajeel.

Gray and Erza hurried after him, Lucy stayed back with Duke a moment not sure if they should go after them or remain with Mira and the others. Before she could decide what to do, Duke decided for her. He grabbed onto the whip at her side and dragged her along as he charged after Natsu.

Happy quickly came behind and flew about Lucy and Duke, making sure to keep the promise he made to Natsu. When she reached Erza and Gray, they were being blocked by the elemental four. The big man with his eyes blindfolded attacked Erza, meanwhile the water mage that kidnapped Lucy, went after Gray. They were able to lead those two away leaving the other two with Lucy and Duke.

Duke growled at them and looked back to Lucy. She nodded and got out Loke's key. She called the lion spirit forth and he appeared wearing his suit and red tie, with his glasses. He smirked at the members remembering what all they had caused. Finally he could take them on at his full strength.

"Let's go Lucy." Loke said.

"Right behind you." She answered.

Duke then let out a howl and charged at them leaping up in to the air.

* * *

><p>Natsu was going head on with Gajeel. However he felt like he was getting absolutely nowhere. Every hit he'd counter it every move he made so did the iron mage. They were in perfect sync when they fought each other, for Natsu it was highly irritating.<p>

"Come on Salamander, you can do better than that can't you?" Gajeel said in a mocking tone.

The fire mage's fists started bursting into flames, only this time giving off more heat and standing taller than before. The only thing he could think about while he fought, the pictured burned into his mind as he remembered what exactly he was fighting for, Duke and Lucy.

While he fought Gajeel, Happy should be watching over the two, not that Duke couldn't do that himself but Happy was being his eyes, he needed to know they were okay himself.

"Fire Dragon's Roar!" Natsu shouted.

A huge explosion of flames escaped Natsu's mouth and made their way to Gajeel. The iron mage managed to block the flames, by turning his arm in an iron rod. However after the attack hit, even Gajeel noticed the flames heat, as he realized that the fire had actually burned his own skin, rather than just the iron.

"Iron Dragon's Roar!"

Gusts of iron flew at Natsu as he tried to defend himself. He tried dodging it but ended up caught in his attack. He managed to use his flames to protect himself and blow off the attack all together.

The fire mage then launched himself at Gajeel, only this time not using any magic, surprising Gajeel. Natsu made contact with his face and knocked him across the ground. Natsu smiled as he watched his enemy fly.

"Alright Salamander, you surprised me with that one." He commented. "But that ain't going to happen again."

"We'll see about that. I don't care who you guys are but you aren't laying a hand on Lucy or Duke. I'll make sure of that." Natsu threatened.

As he said those words Natsu's body began to change. His eyes started to glow a bright red as he glared at Gajeel and finally his skin started to turn into dragon scales. The iron dragon slayer got up and prepared himself. This wasn't looking good for himself, he knew what happened when anyone messed with a dragon's treasure. He just hoped he would survive his attacks.

* * *

><p>Gray had happened to have an easy time with the water elemental four. She had taken a liking to him, much to his surprise and eventually gave in. He wasn't going to complain either. After all just meant that one of them were down already and quite possibly on their own side as well.<p>

"What was your name again?" he asked her.

"It's Juvia, Gray-sama." She said with hearts in her eyes.

_'Geez of course this would happen to me and no one else.'_ Gray thought as he looked away from the girl.

"I know this is still your guild and all but do you mind telling me what exactly you guys are planning. I mean if you just wanted Lucy, why not sneak in and take her like before? Seems like a lot of extra work for you guys." Gray asked her.

He didn't lke them trying to take Lucy away from them. He had to admit he did have a little crush on her when she and Duke first came here. Though after getting to know her and all, he noticed that she seemed almost like a sister to him. He never had someone like that before, so there was no way in hell, he was going to willingly let her go. Not to mention that flame-brained idiot wouldn't have that happen either.

"Juvia doesn't really know why. Juvia does remember the master saying something about wanting to attack Fairy Tail. Something about an excuse to take you all down. Juvia is afraid that's all she heard from them. Juvia's orders were to take down anyone that got in her way and capture Lucy again."

"You're not going to now right?"

"Of course not. Not if that would upset Gray-sama."

"Good, that's less for me to worry about. Come on how about you stick with me for a while. I have to go find Erza and Natsu. I'm sure Duke, Lucy, and that cat are around here somewhere as well."

Gray then walked off with Juvia running close behind him.

* * *

><p>Lucy, Loke, Duke, and Happy had a hell of a time trying to take down the other two elemental four, however after a while they had managed to finish him off. Duke and Loke got the last blow as they attacked at the same time, with Lucy's magic in sync with Duke's, allowing for a power boost at the end. Loke was very impressed with them, they had gotten a little stronger with in the last couple days.<p>

"We should try and find the others now right?" Lucy asked the group.

Duke nodded then looked up to Happy. Natsu and Happy both weren't aware of the fact that the wolf had actually heard what Natsu said to Happy. Luckily for them Lucy didn't have Duke's sensitive hearing and didn't hear a word about it. He was surprised the two actually wanted to keep an eye on her two but he really couldn't blame them, he had the same problem though now he was relieved that he wasn't on his own there.

"Yeah we should probably go find Natsu now. I think he went after Gajeel."

"Sounds alright with you Loke?" Lucy asked him.

"Yeah but we better hurry. Never know if that fire idiot needs a hand or not." Loke said.

Lucy nodded and looked over at Duke and Happy.

"Lead the way boys."

Duke barked and took the lead in front of Lucy and Loke, with Happy flying behind him. Lucy and Loke went right behind them as they ran off to the direction they last saw their dragon slayer.

Duke was going off the scent of ash from the fire mage. It was much easier to pick up, thankfully because there were way too many scents around in the area. Had his scent not been as strong it would have blended right in with the others.

The wolf then could smell the scent of iron mixed in with the ash, which he assumed was Gajeel's scent. He didn't like that mage one bit, not after what he did to Levy's team and the guild hall. They reached the scene in no time however when they got there the fight looked just about finished. Both of the dragon slayers were on the ground and neither were able to move.

Lucy immediately ran over to Natsu's side with Happy, while Duke and Loke stayed where they were and watched Gajeel carefully.

"Natsu are you okay?" Lucy asked him.

"Yeah I'm fine, just need to recover for a minute." He replied.

"That's a relief." Lucy said with a sigh.

"Are you guys alright?"

"Yeah were fine Natsu. Nothing we couldn't handle." Lucy said to him with a reassuring smile.

Natsu then turned over to Happy, who then nodded his head, agreeing with what Lucy had just said. The fire mage then sighed in relief, he was a little worried about her since he wasn't with her, the only thing that stopped him from going after her, was the fact that Duke and Happy were both with her. Duke was strong and wouldn't let anyone touch her and Happy wouldn't dare let anything happen to her either, but if there was trouble the cat could have easily found him.

"That's good. Did you find out anything else about them?" Natsu asked her.

"No, though I'm pretty sure now that they aren't just after me. They have to be doing this for another reason." Lucy said.

"Why do you think that?" He asked her.

Loke then interjected with his own thoughts.

"Think about that Natsu. If they just wanted Lucy, why make a big scene about it? Why not just sneak here in the night and take her that way? Wouldn't that be the most assured way of completing that, if that had been the only thing they were after?" He asked him.

"You have a point there but then what else could they want."

Lucy then looked down to Natsu with a questioning look.

"You guys never had a problem with that guild right?" She asked them.

Loke had to take a minute to think about that but couldn't think of anything they could have down to provoke Phantom Lord, other than attacking their guild for harming Levy and her team. Natsu then thought about it as well and couldn't remember a time when their name was even brought up.

"I can't think of any." Natsu said looking over to Loke.

"I can't either, though it is strange. We don't exactly have anything that they could gain from this."

"What about the master?" Happy said.

"What do you mean Happy?" Natsu asked him.

"Well I remember the master saying about having an argument with the Phantom Lord master. I don't know what it was about but it sounded serious. He mumbled something about the way they treated each other and something about the way they took on jobs." Happy said trying to remember what exactly Makarov had said about them.

"That could be why then. That would explain why they took down the master right when they did." Loke said looking over at Happy.

Duke then walked away also listening to the conversation. He walked over to Gajeel who was also listening to them, just not saying a word about it. When Duke got close enough the iron mage turned his head towards the wolf.

The wolf waited for a violent act or some kind of remark but nothing came. He then titled his head to the left, waiting for the dragon slayer to do something. Though the only reaction he got was a smile.

"I'm not so bad once you get to know me." Gajeel whispered to Duke. "I just do what I'm told, though I have to admit I hated doing that to that little shrimp and that team of hers. I know I shouldn't apologize to you wolf, but I'm sorry. That's just how my guild works and it makes you lose sight of right and wrong." He whispered.

Duke was shocked to hear kind words come from him but the wolf could tell it was nothing but the truth. Had he been lying, Duke would have taken no time to rip his head off. Instead the wolf laid beside him and looked over to his group. He let out a little whimper, causing all of them to look his way.

When Natsu saw how close he was to Gajeel, he tried to move to get the wolf away from him but he still didn't have enough energy. Instead the fire mage had to resort to screaming at him.

"Duke! Get away from him now!" he shouted at him.

Usually Duke would always listen, when it came to Natsu and Lucy that is. Though this time he didn't even move a muscle. He knew Natsu was just yelling because he thought he was in danger, being that close to the other dragon slayer that he was fighting not too long ago.

"Calm down Natsu. Duke has a reason for this, let him show you." Lucy said calmly but with slight worry in her voice.

She believed her words, Duke never did anything rash, unless he knew it was perfectly safe. This had to be one of those times, or else he would have moved when Natsu had yelled over at him.

Duke turned back to Gajeel and used his muzzle to try and tell the iron mage to speak to them. As if he got the hint Gajeel began to tell them why exactly Phantom Lord was attacking them.

"Our master has some kind of grudge against yours. His plan is to annihilate your guild and take over this area with our own. Sounds twisted but I just follow orders." Gajeel said to them.

"So that's it huh? Fine." Natsu said as he began to stand up, with Lucy's help.

"Natsu." Lucy said as he finally stood on his own.

"Well we'll just have to a stop to him. Sorry Gajeel but there is no way in hell that Fairy Tail is going to go down. Not to someone like him." Natsu said as he made his way over to Duke and Gajeel.

"All power to ya Salamander." Gajeel said.

Natsu stopped beside Duke and put his arm around Duke's neck. Then looked at Gajeel.

"I don't like what you did to my friends, or the guild hall, though it seems Duke is fine with you. I don't know what you said to the wolf or what your intentions really are. However what I do know is, is that Duke doesn't let a lot of people around him. The fact that he walked over to you and is this close to you know, shows that somewhere deep down, you really aren't as evil as you seemed." Natsu told him as he let go of Duke.

"Just know that if for any reason that I should have any reason to doubt that again, I won't hold back and I'll have Duke here to back me up got it?" Natsu said in a threatening voice.

However Gajeel didn't find it threatening, to him it seemed more like a challenge. So he looked at the fire mage and the wolf again before saying anything.

"I'll make you a deal Salamander. You go kick our guild masters ass, and once you've done that I'll make it up to your guild, then me, you, and Duke here will have another fight." Gajeel said with a smirk.

Natsu smiled at the offer, then he turned to Lucy and noticed Duke did the same.

The girl looked annoyed at first but then sighed and nodded her head, showing that she didn't mind Natsu taking Duke into a fight.

"You're on!" He said shooting back up.

Duke then howled as Natsu screamed out his favorite phrase.

"I'm all fired up now!"

**And there you go! I hope you guys enjoyed that chapter. I think it went kind of slow when I was writing it so I apologize if it wasn't all that great. I'm trying to get better at fighting scenes but it's just hard for me to get into it sometimes. I promise I will get better though! Thank you all for the support and please leave a review or even favorite/follow my story. That's the best way I know that you all are still wanting more. Until next time guys and thank you!**

**~wolvesfinalden**


	10. Chapter 9: The War's End

**Hello Everyone!**

** I've had a good amount of free time lately so I've been able to write up my stories more than usual. Which is good news for you guys and thank you for all the reviews. I love you guys thinking about what might happen in the story because some of the things you guys are thinking might happen, could very well happen. Not just because you guys said it but because a lot of you are reading my mind which is awesome! Thanks again guys and now let's get on with the chapter!**

**~wolvesfinalden**

**Fairy Tail: By Your Side**

**Chapter 9: The War's End**

Lucy, Duke, Natsu, Happy, Loke, and Gajeel all headed for the master's hiding place. Gajeel took the lead as he led them to his now former master's lair. Duke stayed close behind him searching for a scent of the man that had been behind Lucy's capture.

Natsu stayed beside Lucy, while Loke and Happy brought up the rear. While they were heading for the guild's master, the group had run into a confused Erza and Gray. They saw Gajeel and was about to attack until they saw Duke standing behind him with no sign of aggression.

"What is the meaning of this?" Erza asked calmly.

Duke tilted his head at Erza then turned to see Lucy and Natsu catch up with them. Lucy patted her wolf on the head while Natsu answered Erza.

"He cut us a deal and is showing us where his master is located. I'm only doing this because after I fought him Duke showed no aggression to him. I don't think Duke would act like that if Gajeel wasn't telling the truth, right Luce?"

"Yeah, Duke can be a good judge of character. Gajeel must have shown him that he's not a threat to us anymore. Otherwise Duke would have ripped his head off by now."

Duke softly growled in agreement with his master. Had Gajeel given him any signs of threatening them any further, he wouldn't have hesitated to take him down himself.

"Alright then take us to your master then. Gray and I are going to accompany you as well." Erza said.

"Fine but hurry up." Gajeel said.

The iron dragon-slayer then hurried ahead while the others quickly followed behind.

As they made their way through the moving guild, Duke began to notice a powerful magic source up ahead. His fur began to prickle as they got closer, letting a growl escape his throat ever few steps. Until finally they reached the room of the guild master.

Gajeel stopped and held his arm straight out to signal for them all to stop behind him. Duke noticed but inched up closer to Gajeel, trying to get a good look at the man. He wasn't a very tall man, he may have been taller than Makarov, but that wasn't saying much.

Duke could sense the magical energy around him and started barking and growling at him. He didn't want this man touching his master again, let alone take her back to her father.

"Awe so the puppy came to play." The master sneered.

Duke just growled back, not daring to back down from him. Natsu came to stand next to Duke and Gajeel as they glared at the man together.

"So Gajeel, this is how you thank me? You would betray your own master, for this pathetic guild. I'm ashamed of you." The master said, acting as if he was offended.

Gajeel took no mind to his ex-master's comment.

"Yeah well the show their running is a lot better than ours. Besides I doubt your guild is going to last once the Magic Council gets word about what you've done." Gajeel said.

He then turned to Duke who was now looking over to Gajeel.

"Plus if this guy is going to give me a second chance, then I better take it and keep my word. I'd like to stay on his good side." Gajeel then smiled and looked over to the Phantom Lord master. "I'd be afraid if I were you."

"What could you mean by that!" the guild master yelled.

Duke then looked back to Lucy, who was now moving to Natsu and Gajeel. She stood by Natsu and Duke, she didn't return a look back to her wolf. Instead her gaze stayed on the man who had locked her up in a cell not that long ago. There was no way in hell she was going back. Oh no, she'd make him pay for what he had done to her friends.

Everything became silent until Lucy finally broke it. Her eyes remained glued to the Phantom Lord master and all he could see in her eyes was the hate she held for him.

"Duke," she began as she allowed her body to sync with Duke. She could feel her body heat up as her body was in full sync with Duke. "Attack!"

Without a second of hesitation the wolf lunged letting out a snarl and a bark. He ran at top speed at the master. There was no holding back, not for this low life. He lunged up in the air and in a moment there was an opening between them, enough for someone to shoot at him.

"Natsu! Gajeel! Now!" Lucy screamed.

For some reason Natsu automatically knew what his teammate wanted him to do. So without any questions he used his dragon roar along with Gajeel. Once it was sent flying at Duke and the guild master, Natsu began to panic wondering if Duke would be able to escape the iron and flames.

He looked to Lucy, who at the moment didn't show a sign of concern for her wolf's safety. Looking back to Duke he watched as the wolf had landed on the man's head and jumped out of the way of the attack, leaving him defenseless against them.

However that wasn't enough to take him out, he tried calling forth some of his guild members but at this point it was no use. He finally realized that Fairy Tail was beating them one by one, without a lot of trouble.

Erza then took her chance and lunged forward, sword in hand at him. He knocked her back but failed to see Duke lurking near them. The wolf took his chance and attacked him. The man punched Duke in the forehead, making him whimper as he backed away.

"Duke!" Natsu, Lucy, and Happy all yelled.

The master then picked Duke up by the scruff of his neck, thinking he had won. Lucy knew what she had to do. As Gray and Erza tried to attack the master, in order to let go of Duke, Lucy focused her own magic with Duke once more. She felt herself fuse with Duke, like they had done before on their last mission. Though this time it seemed to be more powerful, almost like Duke and Lucy became one, however the connection was weak.

Duke felt it as well and used his new found strength and attacked the guild master, making him let Duke go. Erza and Gray took the chance to attack him as well, Erza attacked with her sword, while Gray used his ice make magic, making a lance out of the ice and launching it at him.

Natsu felt left out so he charged in.

"Fire Dragon: Wing Attack!" he screamed as the flames came crashing down on top of the guild master.

Duke stood by Lucy now as they watched the fight. Duke looked up to Lucy, waiting for a command from her. With their magic sync being this strong they could hopefully finish off the man.

"You ready Duke?" she asked him.

The wolf nodded as he got ready beside her.

"Go! Heaven's Light!" Lucy yelled as she focused her magic to Duke.

The wolf held his head back as the magic gathered in his mouth. Finally he quickly launched it out, leaving a path of a bright, yellow light flying towards the Phantom Lord master. He didn't notice the attack until it was too late.

"Fire Dragon's Roar!" Natsu yelled.

The flames from his roar combined with Duke and Lucy's attack, the fire was swirling around the yellow light as it charged forth. It hit the man dead on, knocking him through the wall. Gray was close enough to see him fall down in front of their guild hall, where to his surprise, their own master was waiting.

"Guys look! It's Master Makarov!" Gray yelled at them.

All of them ran over to the hole in the wall, staring down to find their master standing in front of the now fallen Phantom Lord. Erza was over joyed to see him standing on his own two feet. While the others just cheered at the sight. Gajeel on the other hand just smirked, happy to see that their master was fine.

"Good work!" Master Makarov called up to them.

Duke looked down, wagging his tail as he let out a loud howl that echoed throughout the city of Magnolia signaling that Fairy Tail had been victorious.

Two days passed since the attack on Fairy Tail. Everything was going back to normal, the guild hall was being rebuilt, Gajeel and Juvia had been given places in Fairy Tail, seeing as they both formally apologized for the trouble they had caused. Not to mention Duke played a big part of their acceptance. Once Lucy and Natsu explained that Duke had noticed the change in both their characters and trusted them enough to be around Lucy, even the master had no right to object. Duke would never let any danger come close to Lucy, meaning that Gajeel and Juvia posed no threat to them any longer.

At the moment Lucy was sitting at home with Duke, both spending the day relaxing from their previous days' events. Erza, who was running the whole guild reconstruction, told her to go home and rest with Duke for the day. Lucy had to admit she was glad for that, she needed some rest and so did Duke. They were both covered in a few bruises but nothing major.

Lucy decided she was going to write another letter to her mother. She never really mentioned this to Natsu but she got into the habit of writing letters to her deceased mother. With her mother being gone she had fell into the habit of writing her letters, so she would still feel like she was talking to her, more so like a journal really.

Duke watched her write down the letter. He wasn't sure what she was writing but knew it was one of those letters she wrote for her mother. One of the workers at the mansion had suggested that she start doing it so she could still feel like she was in contact with her mother. A way to feel connected to her.

Duke then laid down next to her by the chair. He heard her mumble some of the words she wrote down. Things like, Natsu and Happy even the whole business with Phantom Lord. Duke didn't hear all of what she put in the letter but from what he had caught it was what had happened within the last few days.

Lucy on the other hand was lost in thought. As she stared down at the last sentence she wrote she realized exactly what she had to do.

_'This won't all just stop in one day. It could happen again. I have to make sure that he doesn't go after Fairy Tail like that again.'_ She thought.

She turned her head and saw Duke sleeping on the floor beside her. He looked peaceful at the moment, which made her smile. She had finally made her decision.

_'I will go home.'_

Natsu and the others were making their way over to Lucy's apartment. She had been sent home earlier that day by Erza, saying she should get some rest with Duke. Natsu agreed for the most part but something was bugging him today. Something just didn't feel right to him and he couldn't figure out exactly what it was.

Happy went ahead and managed to reach the window to Lucy's bedroom. He slowly began to open it but then noticed that Duke was running around the apartment frantically. Happy had never seen his friend look like this so he tried to pry open the window faster but he couldn't do it.

Natsu noticed where Happy had gone and came up after him. He looked at Happy who was desperately trying to open the window. Natsu had never seen Happy this desperate before, so instead of opening it for him he decided to ask what exactly was on his mind.

"Happy why are you trying so hard to open the window. You could have just called me you know?" He told him.

"I know Natsu but Duke is acting weird in there. He's running all over the place and it doesn't look like Lucy is even home." Happy said to him.

Natsu looked at him funny, then looked inside and noticed what his cat had meant. Duke was restless and running around the apartment and with his sensitive ears, he could hear the wolf whimpering.

"Move over buddy." Natsu said.

Happy did as he was told and watched as Natsu opened the window.

As soon as Natsu opened the window, he caught Duke's attention. For a second the wolf just stared at the two in shock.

"Hey Duke, what's wrong? Where's Lucy at?" Natsu asked him.

Sadly Natsu didn't get an answer, or at least one he had expected. Right after he finished his question the wolf lunched up in the air and knocked Natsu over. He began to race down the building, landing on the ground. Duke didn't take any time to recover and made a mad dash away from the apartment.

"Duke! Hey where are you going!?" Natsu yelled frantically.

Erza and Gray finally walked in seeing Natsu and Happy still outside the window.

"You know there is a door. That's what you usually use to enter one's home." Erza said a little annoyed.

"Yeah flame-breath, it wouldn't kill ya to use the door. I'm sure Lucy would appreciate that." Gray remarked.

The two waited for some kind of reaction from the dragon-slayer but instead they got nothing. Natsu just stared at the direction Duke had disappeared. What could have made Duke act like that? He had never done that before. Not during the time Natsu knew him.

Happy flew inside the apartment and began to explain what had happened. Once Gray and Erza were up to speed they yelled over to Natsu to help them find some kind of a clue.

As they were all searching Natsu saw something on her desk. He read what was on the paper and his heart stopped in his chest as he read the words.

'I will go home.' It read.

"She can't go home!" Natsu yelled as he jumped out the window on the street.

He used his nose to track down the direction that Duke had disappeared. Happy quickly flew after Natsu leaving Gray and Erza to catch up. As Natsu ran he realized how much it all made sense now. Why Duke was acting so strange in her apartment. Why there was no sign of Lucy anywhere. Why Duke all of the sudden jumped out the window and ran off. Duke was trying to bring Lucy back, and Natsu was planning on doing the same.

Duke ran as fast as he could through the city of Magnolia. He made it past the train station and took the way he knew would lead back to the mansion. It may not be as fast as riding the train but with his speed, he was sure he'd make it there in good time.

The wolf refused to stop for anything along the way he was mid-way through the forest when he began to smell the familiar scent of flowers. He was close to their old home, the smell may have seemed welcoming to Duke but he knew better. This was no place of welcoming, not for him and Lucy anyway.

Lucy had just gotten off the train and was making her way through the path that would lead to her family's estate. She felt awful for leaving Duke behind like that but with her father threatening him, she wasn't going to take any chances. So she decided to leave on her own.

_'Duke must be going crazy by now. I just hope he can calm down some before Natsu gets there. There's no doubt him and Happy will show up there later. If they did any time soon, she just hoped Duke calmed down and went to sleep.' _ She thought.

As she made her way through the estate, she finally came in front of her old home. She noticed some of the staff members outside and when she went to greet them, one of them had recognized her, making everyone run up to her. They couldn't believe she was back and Lucy couldn't blame them, she and Duke both left without even saying a word to anyone.

"Oh Miss Lucy you returned!" one called out.

"Oh Lucy, where is Duke? Surely he has to be with you?" another said.

"Duke isn't with me right now. He's back at our apartment. I had to leave him behind because of my father." Lucy admitted.

Lucy then noticed one of the maid's had come up to her with a message.

"Miss Lucy, your father has requested your presence in his office." She told her.

"Requests my presence?" she said.

_'I see so he really hasn't changed one bit. I'm glad I left Duke back home now._' Alright I'll be there in a minute.

Lucy allowed some of the maids to help her inside and eventually got her into one of her old gowns. As Lucy looked at herself, she became more aware of why she left. This was just one of the many reasons.

Lucy left thanking them for their help and for the dress, she walked over to her father's office and opened the door. There standing at the window was her father, the last person on earth she had wanted to see.

"Father." She said dryly.

"Lucy, so you did come home after all. I was beginning to worry about you."

"Well I'm fine and Duke was a major part in that." Lucy said, making sure she stressed her wolf's name.

"You still have that dog around here?" he asked with a little anger in his voice.

"No he's back in Magnolia, where I know he's safe."

"Ah good, so the pest won't be a bother to me anymore. Good now on to business. I called you here because I have set up a marriage for you. This is important to ensure the success of my company. Once you are married you will need to produce an heir to the family, ensuring that our line will not disappear."

Lucy then shook her head at her father's requests.

"I think you are misunderstanding the reason I am here father." Lucy told him.

"Oh, then why are you here Lucy?" he asked her.

"I'm here to tell you I'm leaving, for good. I don't want any part of this life and I've had it with how you've been treating Duke! I don't think you realize exactly what you have done to me, what you have done to Duke. Everything you have done is what made us leave." She began as she glared at her father.

"I don't understand why you felt the need to get rid of him or why you hate him so much. Do you even realize that in getting rid of Duke, you are getting rid of the last thing I have of mom?! My only friend I've had in this living hell. He's been by my side from the very beginning and I know that if I hadn't have taken the precautions and made him stay at my apartment that he would be here even now!" as Lucy yelled that last sentenced the door busted open.

When the two turned to see what had caused it, they were both surprised at what they had saw. There standing in the doorway was a white wolf with brilliant gold eyes. His black collar with golden designs on it and his tag shown in the sun's light. Revealing his name on the collar.

'Duke'

The wolf walked over and stood between Lucy and her father. His fur was standing up and his ears were laid flat on his head as he growled. Lucy began to feel tears form in her eyes as she watched him. Even when she told him to stay home, knowing it was best for him, he had found his way back to her. How lucky she was to have such a loyal companion.

"You see what I mean father. I even locked him in my apartment and he still manages to come find me. This is what family does! Instead of thinking about yourself and this precious company of yours, think about someone else for a change!" she yelled.

"I've had enough of this life!"

Lucy then ripped the front part of her dress to show she was leaving this life behind. Duke stayed in position, not moving a single inch.

"As for Fairy Tail, if you ever try to pull a stunt like that again, don't think we'll come after you. They are my family as well and I will do anything to protect them. So this is goodbye father, I only wish you could one day finally see the errors of your way. Mom wanted what was best for me and she would want me to be happy."

Lucy then walked away with Duke behind her. She went to her old room and changed back into the clothes she had worn there and left the mansion again. Before she walked any further, she stopped at her mother's grave with Duke. They both stared at the grave and Duke began to rub up against Lucy, giving her comfort.

"This is what she would have wanted Duke." Lucy said to him.

She then leaned down and hugged Duke around the neck.

"I don't know how you managed to get out and I have a feeling Natsu may have been involved but I don't care. You are always there when I need you Duke, thank you." She whispered in to his ear.

Duke wagged his tail then pulled back and licked her face. She smiled and patted his head, she went to turn to walk home until she saw something in the distance. Duke perked up his ears as he heard voices call out his and Lucy's names.

"LUCY!"

Lucy looked closer and noticed exactly who it was. She was now really surprised and looked down at Duke.

"I have a feeling that this might have to deal with you." She said and giggled a little.

Duke titled his head sideways not quite understanding what she had meant but didn't have time to think too much about it. Natsu came running up to them but before he got there Happy flew up first and hugged Lucy around her chest, with tears in his eyes.

"What's wrong Happy?" Lucy asked him.

"Please don't leave Lucy! We don't want you to go!" Happy started yelling.

Duke then looked really puzzled at his friend's cries. He looked up to Lucy and she looked just as confused as he was. Natsu then came up and looked just as concerned as Happy.

"Luce you can't go back there. Not after what you told me what it was like there." He said frantically.

Lucy then heard Erza and Gray yelling the same thing as she began to realize what they were talking about she began to laugh, confusing the hell out of her freaked out friends.

"Guys I wasn't coming her to stay. I just needed to talk to my father and tell him that I'm not coming home. I just wanted to make sure he wouldn't pull something like what we went through with Phantom Lord again. Besides do you really think I would have left Duke behind if I was leaving for good?"

Duke looked up to Natsu who now looked relieved. He then put his hands behind his head.

"You're right but next time leave a clear note on your desk, instead of just saying you're going home. You had us all freaked out." Natsu said to her.

Lucy then apologized and got Happy to let go. The cat then went over to Duke and hugged him tightly and smiled.

"Good that means Duke and I can share more fish! Right Duke?" Happy said.

Duke nodded his head. The others began to walk off and Happy started to walk after them. Duke was about to catch up when he heard someone whisper his name. He turned around to find someone he had not seen in years.

"Duke, you have grown so much." The woman said to him.

Duke recognized her, it was Lucy's mother. He didn't understand why he could see her so he just waited for her to explain herself.

"You have a unique gift Duke. You can see spirits. I knew I'd find you here. I wanted to thank you for keeping my Lucy safe and sound. What my husband has done was wrong and I'm glad Lucy was strong and saw it through. You truly are a good boy Duke, I can't thank you enough for what you have done." Layla said as she walked up to Duke.

She laid her hand on his head and he just stared up at her in awe.

"Times will be tough Duke and your powers will be put to the test. You and Lucy's sync will grow stronger, the stronger your bond will become. The same will happen if you form a bond with someone important to Lucy. Keep those wizards close Duke. I'm sure that fire mage will be a powerful partner, don't you think." Layla said with a smile.

"I will see you soon Duke, take care of Lucy as always. I'll be watching over both of you." Layla said as her spirit disappeared.

Duke then turned to see the group didn't go too far. He quickly picked up his speed meeting up with Happy. He picked up the cat and placed him on his back. Then ran off ahead to Lucy and the others. They were on their way home.

**That's it for this chapter! This was longer than normal, I just kept on writing and didn't realize how long it was until I finished. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! If you like the story don't forget to fav/follow or leave a review. More to come soon! Thanks for reading and I will see you next time!**

**~wolvesfinalden**


	11. Chapter 10: Realization

**Hello Everyone and Welcome Back!**

** I'm sorry this chapter took so long. I just didn't know where I wanted to start off with and I figured we need some kind of NaLu this far into the story ;). Anyway again I hope you guys like this chapter! Enjoy!**

**~wolvesfinalden**

**Fairy Tail: By Your Side**

**Chapter 10: Realization**

It had been a few months since the fall of Phantom Lord and the ordeal with Lucy's father. During those months Team Natsu had helped bring down the Oracion Seis with the help of a few guilds. Lucy fondly remembered what had happened on their way home.

_Flashback_

_ The group was walking Wendy and her cat Carla back to her guild the Cait Shleter. When they got there though they found out that the guild was never an actual guild. They all disappeared in front of the group, leaving Wendy and Carla without a guild. Lucy was about to go comfort the young girl, though before she could even move to her, Duke walked over to her and nudged her. The girl looked up with tears in her eyes. The wolf then licked away her tears, Wendy then hugged the wolf. _

_ Lucy smiled at the scene remembering what it was like losing someone. Duke always had a soft spot when it came to situations like these. She was glad her wolf allowed Wendy to hold him. Carla on the other hand looked at her dragon slayer with sad eyes and tried telling her not to cry. When Wendy started feeling better Duke pulled away and grabbed Wendy's sleeve and started to pull her in the direction of Magnolia. _

_ Wendy was confused and didn't know where Duke wanted her to go. Natsu and Lucy on the other hand got the hint right away. Natsu looked to Lucy and smiled before he walked over to the two. When he approached Duke stopped his action and wagged his tail, looking at the fire mage._

_ "Duke wants you to come home with us. I'm sure you will be more than welcomed in Fairy Tail." He said to her._

_ Lucy then took the opportunity to walk over to them as well with Happy following close behind her. _

_ "Won't you come with us?" Lucy asked the two._

_ Wendy beamed at her and smiled, nodding her head._

_ "Well if it's all settled then let's all go home." Erza stated as she began walking._

_ Gray came up behind Lucy and started to follow Erza back. Duke quickly followed suite along with the rest of them._

_End Flashback_

Wendy was accepted into the guild rather quickly and was feeling more at home now. Lucy then sighed and looked over to her wolf. It had been a few weeks since then and now she was at her apartment with a now sick Duke. Lucy and Duke hadn't been going to the guild for about two days now. The blonde didn't want to leave Duke home by himself and tried her best to take care of him. Though he seemed to only get worse as the day went on.

She looked over to her clock and realized what time it was. She got herself ready and looked for Duke's leash, she bought yesterday. She went over to the canine and clipped in on his collar. Lucy had made him an appointment yesterday when he didn't seem to be getting any better. When she got there they told her that they could get him in today but he had to be on a leash.

"Come on boy." She told him.

The wolf slowly got up and made his way out with Lucy. The blonde had never seen him like this before. His movements were very sluggish and he would sleep through almost the entire day and night. Not to mention it was hard to even make him eat or drink anything lately.

The two were almost on their way to the vet when they were stopped by a male voice.

"Luce! Duke!" it called out.

Lucy didn't even have to guess who it was, she just knew. Turning she saw the dragon slayer with his exceed. He looked worried as he approached them.

"You two okay? You haven't been at the guild for a few days." Natsu said in a concerned tone.

"Well I'm fine but something is wrong with Duke. I though he just had a cold or ate something that upset him, but he's been getting worse each day. I'm taking him to the vet right now to find out what's wrong with him." Lucy explained.

Natsu looked over to the white wolf that was usually full of energy and was now looking as if he was on his last leg. The fire mage was even more concerned now as he looked at Duke. Then Natsu moved over to Lucy and took the leash from her letting it drape down. He then moved to Duke and picked up the wolf.

"Lead the way. I'll carry him there." Natsu said.

Happy walked beside them as they made their way over to the vet's office. When they got there Lucy told them his name and they were asked to have a seat. Once Lucy sat down, Natsu gently put Duke down so he could lay down beside them while they waited. Happy walked over and sat next to Duke, petting his head and telling him that he would be fine.

"You could have came and got me when he started feeling sick you know?" he told her.

"I know but Duke is my responsibility, I didn't want to make anyone else worry about him." She sighed.

"He's not just yours now you know. I consider him my responsibility along with you. If anything is wrong with either of you I want to know." Natsu told her.

"Aye!" Happy added.

Lucy smiled at them, truthfully she still wasn't use to the idea of it just being her and Duke. Honestly she thought it would be better if Natsu didn't have to worry about him. She now realized though that it really wasn't just her and Duke anymore. Natsu had been with them from the start of their adventure in Fairy Tail. Anything that came up Natsu and of course Happy were always right there with them.

"Come to think of it Luce, why didn't you just ask Wendy to look at him?" he asked her.

Lucy sighed, she had thought about asking the girl for help but then a thought came across that made her decide not to.

"Wendy may be able to help out us but I'm not sure she can do anything for Duke. I know I still could have asked but she probably knows more about Human anatomy rather than animal. It would be different if he had some kind of injury, that I'm sure she could help with no problem."

Natsu nodded though he wasn't sure exactly what she meant by anatomy but he just decided to go along with it. If Luce said it mattered then it more than likely did.

"Duke Heartfilia." The nurse called.

Duke's ears popped up a little at the call of his name but didn't move much afterwards. The three stood up and Natsu looked down and saw that Duke wasn't moving. He sighed as he went down and picked him up and as a thank you, Duke gently licked the arm that was close to his face.

As they walked in they asked Natsu to put Duke on the examination table, which he did but slow enough that he wouldn't make Duke feel worse than he already was. Once Duke was on the table, he simply just laid back down, not caring about where he was.

The vet then walked in and did a full examination of the wolf. Once he was done he looked at Natsu and Lucy.

"There doesn't seem to be any complications with his body, but there is something messing with his system." He said.

He looked over Duke once again and then noticed the insignia on Duke. The vet then looked to Natsu and Lucy and saw the same symbol on them as well.

"Judging by your symbols that match the wolf, is it safe to assume that this wolf has magical power?" he asked them.

Lucy nodded.

"He's my partner. I've had Duke since I was little but I've never seen him like this before. Even when he got a little sick he still acted like himself but never like this." Lucy explained.

"Usually he's all full of energy! Though not now." Happy added.

"I see, well I'm going to hook him up to one of our magic readers. I have a feeling that is where the problem is."

The vet then gently put bands around Duke's paws and turned on the machine. Natsu and Lucy watched as they saw the levels start to drop once it was hooked up. The vet then smiled as he found what the problem was.

"Ah there's the problem." He said as he turned to Natsu and Lucy. "It seems that his magic levels are dropped which in both people and animals can cause a magical sickness. It's fairly easy to treat and shouldn't take more than a few days."

"Alright what can we do for him?" Lucy asked him.

"I'll give you some medication which will replenish his magic. That should solve the problem but I'll give you just a few antibiotics. Those will help with any infection caused by the magic deficiency. He should be fine in a couple of days but nothing to worry about." He said with a smile.

"Okay thank you so much." Lucy said walking over to Duke and petting his head.

"So he's just sluggish because he doesn't have enough magic in him?" Natsu asked.

"Yes, magic for mages and animals are like their life source as you know. When the magic gets too low it can cause you to have symptoms of an illness. Which is why Duke has a fever and no energy. Once it's all back he'll feel like himself again." The vet assured him.

Natsu nodded happy with what he was told. He then smiled down at Happy.

"He'll be fine now buddy." He told him.

Once everything was taken care of the group went back to Lucy's. Duke tried to walk by himself but started to feel exhausted half way back, which Natsu noticed and scooped him up. Once they got back to the apartment Natsu removed the leash and laid him down on Lucy's bed. He then went out to check on Lucy, while Happy curled up with Duke on the bed.

When Natsu got to the living room Lucy was laying on the couch looking really exhausted. It was then the dragon slayer noticed that it was starting to get late. He sighed as he looked at her, he didn't know why but he wanted to be close to her. To have her against him, to know she was near him and safe in his arms. He had never felt this way in his entire life. Never did he care for someone as much as he did for Lucy, nor did he care so much for an animal like Duke, other than Happy of course.

It was then he decided to move Lucy to the bedroom as well. He gently picked her up and saw she was completely out in a deep sleep. He smiled as he made his way over to the other room. There he found Duke laying on the bed looking up at him and saw his tail wagging his tail again for the first time in a few days.

Natsu gently put her down on the bed and looked over to Duke. He was up but the feline next to him was asleep.

"Can you walk Duke?" He asked him.

The wolf nodded slowly and eased himself up and moved off the bed. He was still moving slow but a little faster than before, which relieved the dragon slayer. Natsu and Duke walked out to the kitchen where Natsu got out some food for Duke and took out one of the pills for his magic and then got out an antibiotic. He put the pills mixed in with the food and set it down for Duke to eat.

Natsu at first was afraid that Duke wouldn't eat it since Lucy mentioned he had not been eating much for the past few days. Thankfully he didn't have to worry when Duke had walked over and slowly picked at his food. It wasn't a huge improvement but a little. He watched making sure the wolf at least at the pills he was supposed to take. Once he was sure he did and saw only a few bits of food left, Duke looked up to him and nudged him to the bedroom.

The fire mage smiled and walked over to the bedroom following Duke. The wolf stopped when he looked up at the bed. At first he tried to climb up himself but started feeling exhausted after trying to jump up on the bed.

"Easy there Duke, you're not better yet." Natsu whispered to him.

Natsu then picked him up and placed him on the bed, after Duke was up on the bed Natsu moved into the bed with Lucy. As he sat beside her he noticed that she instinctively curled into him once he was settled. The fire mage was surprised and felt his heart skip a beat when it happened. Which then brought all sorts of questions to his mind.

_'What is with me lately? I thought this is what it feels like to have a very close friend but why do my feelings keep growing like this?'_ Natsu thought to himself.

Happy then got up when he felt Natsu and Duke come back in the bed and curled up on Natsu's stomach while Duke went over to Natsu's side this time and laid down, leaving his face on his lap. The teen looked to the wolf who was looking to him then back to Lucy. Natsu wasn't sure what the wolf was thinking or what he was trying to imply. That was when Happy finally spoke up.

"You love her don't you Natsu?" He asked him.

Natsu's eyes widened as he looked down at his friend.

"What makes you think that Happy?" He asked him.

"Well we do almost always come here, you worry about her more than anyone else in the guild. Not to mention you told me you don't like it when a guy is near her, even if it is just Gray or someone else." Happy explained and then looked to Duke who was looking up at Natsu still.

"Besides that's what Duke believes anyway."

"How can you tell that Happy?"

"Lucy did say Duke doesn't let a lot of people around her. Haven't you noticed Duke comes up to you now a lot more than he used to? He doesn't do that to anyone else in the guild." Happy told him.

Natsu then turned his gaze back over to Duke.

"Is that what you think Duke?" He asked the wolf.

Duke simply nodded his head as he finally laid it down on the dragon slayer's lap. He had known for a while that the fire mage had started to fall in love with Lucy. Normally Duke wouldn't be too fond of the idea but Natsu was a different story. He knew that Lucy would be taken care of with him and he knew that he would never leave either of the two's minds.

As Natsu thought about it he realized now why he had been feeling this way towards Lucy. He finally laid down and felt Lucy move into him even more now. There was no doubt now, he knew he was in love with her. As the two animals fell asleep, Natsu was still awake trying to figure out if he should tell her or not.

_'What if I tell her and she doesn't feel the same? It might ruin the relationship we have now and I don't want that to ever go away. Would I really be okay with her never knowing? No, I just can't not yet.'_ He thought.

Before he drifted off into sleep he noticed Duke was still by his side and looked over to Lucy. He didn't want to lose them. The three of them were his family and as much as he didn't like it he might have to keep it quiet. As Natsu shut his eyes one last thought crossed his mind, making him even more confused than he was now.

_'What if she felt the same way?'_ He thought before letting the darkness take him for the night.

**That's it for now! Thank you guys for reading! If you haven't yet and you like the story please follow/fav, and as always leave a review letting me know what you think about the story so far! I can't thank you guys enough! The next chapter should be up soon! Until next time guys!**

**~wolvesfinalden**


	12. Chapter 11: Welcome To Edolas!

**Welcome Back!**

**Hey guys I hope you enjoy this chapter. I was watching parts of the beginning of the Edolas arc so some are mixed up or skipped over so be generous. Any way enjoy guys and thank you for reading.**

**~wolvesfinalden**

**Fairy Tail: By Your Side**

**Chapter 11: Welcome To Edolas!**

Everything seemed to be normal in Fairy Tail. Lucy and Duke finally were able to go back to the guild regularly, now that Duke felt like himself again. Natsu and Happy had started to stay at Lucy's almost every night after taking the canine to the vet. Lucy wasn't sure why they were staying there so much but she didn't argue. After all they had been such a big help with getting Duke back to his old self that she felt she needed to do something to thank them.

What Lucy didn't know was that Natsu had now come to terms with the fact that he had fallen in love with her. Duke knew the dragon slayer finally realized that and was now pushing for Lucy to realize this as well, the same went for Happy. Sadly so far their efforts were in vain, since Lucy didn't quite get what the two were up to.

Now they were all at the guild enjoying themselves. Happy and Duke sat next to Lucy by the bar, where Mira gave Happy some fish, Duke some meat, and Lucy a milkshake. Natsu on the other hand was in another fight with Gray at the time. Erza was back to eating her strawberry cake, completely ignoring the fighting mages. Wendy was with Carla at another table talking. While Gajeel and Levy were at the table next to them in their own world. Levy had been reading a book while Gajeel simply watched over her.

Lucy had seen this happening a lot and figured that the two liked each other, though either one won't admit it.

"So Lucy is there anything happening between you and Natsu?" Mirajane asked her.

Lucy sighed at her question. Great not this again.

"Not really Mira, I'm just thankful that he and Happy were there with me to help out with Duke." Lucy said.

"Oh that's right Natsu did mention that Duke had been ill for the past few days." Mira said.

"Yeah but he's all better now. It wasn't anything too serious." Lucy said petting Duke's head.

"Well that's good news but really Lucy, I can tell you like him." Mira said in a teasing tone.

"Well he is my best friend after all, I mean he was the first friend I ever had aside from Duke." Lucy said.

"Alright Lucy whatever you say but you should really think about that one. Don't want to lose him you know." Mira told her.

As Lucy was about to walk away and leave she heard Gajeel start yelling as he ran out of the guild. Lucy looked confused as she turned to Happy and Duke, who had the same look on their faces. That's when Lucy saw Levy walking up to them.

"Hey Levy, what was wrong with Gajeel?" Lucy asked her.

The script mage sighed as she remembered what was wrong with the iron dragon slayer.

"I'm not sure he was looking over to Happy then to Carla, then he was looking at Natsu and Wendy. I went to ask him what was wrong and all the sudden he went on a rant how he was the only dragon slayer that didn't have a cat." Levy explained.

"So I take it now he's looking for a cat now." Lucy sighed.

Duke shook his head and walked away not wanting to know anymore about the subject. Duke walked over to Natsu who was deep in thought for once. When he got over to him he licked his hand to get the mage's attention.

"Hey boy." He whispered as he pet the white wolf.

The wolf looked at him with his head tilting, wanting to know what was bugging him. Luckily Natsu got the hint and started to talk to Duke in a low whisper.

"I've been wondering if I should tell Lucy how I feel. Though if I do it won't be the same between us. Either way it could be good or bad. I don't want to lose you guys so I'm trying to keep my mouth shut on this one." Natsu admitted.

Duke growled a little at his explanation, he knew the dragon slayer would just end up regretting it in the end and truthfully he wanted them to be together. Natsu was the only one he had ever accepted to be with his master.

"What you don't think so?" He asked him.

Duke immediately shook his head no. Then the wolf got up and started dragging him over to Lucy. As he was trying to drag Natsu over to his master he heard Carla yell something to Happy. He popped his ears up as watched as the white cat left the guild. He tilted his head a little and saw Happy run after her. At first he was going to ignore it but then the wolf started to feel uneasy. Natsu noticed Duke's actions and tried to snap the wolf out of his thoughts.

"Hey Duke you okay buddy?" he asked him.

Duke slowly nodded his head and tried to act normal but the magic wolf just couldn't shake this bad feeling. Natsu started to pet his fur after he was able to free himself from his grip. The wolf then looked up to see Wendy leaving as well.

"Duke come on boy snap out of it." Natsu told him.

The wolf ignored Natsu and slowly made his way over to the doors. He pushed open the doors and saw storm clouds up ahead. This made his fur all stand up as he felt something coming. The wolf began to growl with soft whimpers as he tried to figure out what was happening. Natsu walked over to him and tried to calm him down, though that's when the storm finally hit.

As the two were standing there rain started to pour down. The other members of the guild just groaned and went back to their daily routine, trying to figure out how to pass the time. A few minutes later Lucy noticed Natsu with Duke and walked over to them.

"Hey Natsu you guys okay?" she asked him.

Natsu turned to her and looked back at Duke who was still in a fit of growls.

"Duke is acting a little strange. He was growling and whimpering before the storm hit. He's not afraid of thunderstorms is he?" he asked her.

"No he usually doesn't mind the rain." She said a little worried as she knelt down beside her partner.

"What's wrong Duke?" she asked him.

Duke only responded with another soft whimper and more growling. Lucy looked over to Natsu a little worried. She knew that Duke wasn't afraid of thunder or rain even, she tried looking outside to see if there was anything out there that would bother him. When she found nothing she turned her gaze back over to her wolf and tried to soothe him that everything was fine.

That's when everything started to go wrong. The rest of the mages noticed the three near the door and started asking what was going on. Natsu simply responded that they didn't know and Duke was acting very strange. The master decided to get up and walk over to them to figure out what was wrong, though an idea had already came to his mind.

"Perhaps this isn't an ordinary storm." The master began. "Animals have a unique sense and since Duke has magic as well he might be able to pick up something we cannot."

As soon as the master finished Duke finally lost it. He started barking loudly and tackled Lucy to the ground. He remained on top of her still staring at the guild doors. Natsu ran over to them but before he made it over the ground started to shake and lightening began to strike.

Duke felt even more uneasy and knew something bad was happening but didn't know what. He felt the ground moving uncontrollably, then he saw out the door and watched as things were being drug up to the sky. With no sign of a tornado or anything he began to stress out.

Natsu made it over and pulled Duke off of Lucy and hugged him with one arm around his neck, and used the other to help Lucy up. The fire mage knew something bad was happening since Duke would never act like this, so the dragon slayer kicked into protective mode. He made sure Lucy was close enough to him as well as the wolf.

Duke felt Natsu's grip tighten and finally the wolf leaned his head up and let out a loud howl. This released some of his magic surrounding the guild, this caused everyone to cover their ears. However Lucy and Natsu bared it as they all hung on to each other. Natsu looked up and called for Happy, who luckily heard him and flew straight over to them.

Natsu kept his grip tight on all of them, not willing to let any of them go. He saw fear in Lucy's eyes causing him to hug her closer. Duke was trying to get out of his grip in a desperate need to protect his family, however before he did he felt a weird movement causing them all to fall and hit the ground. Almost in a split second their worlds just went completely black.

* * *

><p>When Natsu's world finally came back he woke up but everything was still dark. He realized he was covered in something and tried to dig himself out. Though while he did he realized he was alone. When he burst out he was met by Wendy.<p>

"Thank goodness you're okay!" Wendy said.

Natsu just stared at her in confusion.

_'What happened? Where's Lucy, Duke, and Happy? Why aren't they with him? Why is it only Wendy and himself?'_ he asked himself.

He heard another voice behind him and found Carla walking over.

"Wait what happened?" Natsu asked.

"That's what I was going to ask you." Wendy said. "The only thing I know is that the whole town and everyone else was taken by the whole in the sky!"

Natsu froze, what did that mean? Was Lucy okay?

"What do you mean by that?" he asked her.

"Everyone was taken by the Anima. Everyone else is gone." Carla explained.

Natsu glared at her. This cat was so cold-hearted he couldn't stand it.

"No they're not gone." Natsu stated.

"Yes they are. They were taken by the Anima." Carla said again.

"Then why weren't we taken?" Wendy asked.

The moment she asked that, the answer came right to her mind. She froze and looked back at Carla.

"Wait were Natsu and I left behind because we are dragon-slayers?" she asked.

Carla simply nodded.

That's when Happy came in and was thankful he found Natsu.

"Natsu! What happened!? Where's Lucy and Duke!? Where's everyone?!" He asked frantically.

"They were taken by the Anima, which is the opening to Edolas." Carla said.

"Edolas?" The three asked.

"Yes, I'm afraid the tom cat and myself are to blame for this atrocity." Carla admitted.

"What do you mean?" Natsu asked with a little anger in his voice.

"Edolas is where the tom cat and I are actually from." She said.

Natsu stared at her and then looked to his partner. He knew Happy really didn't have anything to do with this but he couldn't say the same for Carla. Happy just looked as clueless as him at the moment. Though at the moment that didn't matter to Natsu, what mattered was finding Lucy, Duke and the others.

_'Duke I hope you're with Lucy now. I need you to protect her till I can get to the two of you.'_ Natsu thought.

His heart started to ache at the thought of the two of them disappearing. No he couldn't think like that. His Lucy was okay. His Duke was okay. His guild was okay. They were all fine. That is what he chose to believe.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile Duke was able to push himself out of the same situation Natsu was in. When he got out he quickly sniffed around for any signs of Lucy, Natsu, or even Happy. When he found none he began to panic. He was going to sprint off and try to find their scents when another scent hit his nose. He turned growling at the intruder and noticed it was Mistogen. He knew he was a member of the guild, or that's what everyone else told him to believe.<p>

Duke knew something was off about the man the moment he met him and he believed he did as well. As he walked closer to Duke, the wolf backed up and growled a warning to him before he got any closer.

"You have a right to be mad and I know you don't believe I'm from here." He said.

Duke just lowered his head more and bared his fangs at the man. He wasn't sure if he could trust the man or not and he wasn't going to take any chances. Not when this whole mess seemed to have his scent all over it.

"I know it's a lot to ask, Duke, right? Please trust me and take this." He said as he pulled out a pill for Duke.

The wolf sniffed at it and glared daggers at him.

"It's not anything dangerous. Where we are going you'll need it to be able to use your magic." He explained to him.

Duke looked at him questionably but decided to trust him. He didn't sense any ill will coming from the man, so he gently took the pill from him and ate it. When the wolf finished he looked back over to Mistogen who was now staring at the sky.

"I suppose your only wish is to find that Lucy girl right?" he asked him.

Duke simply nodded as he waited for him to speak once again.

"Come on, she's around here somewhere and she'll need this as well."

He then walked off leaving Duke to follow him. The wolf slowly trailed behind him not understanding what he wanted or why he was here in the first place. He knew who he really was. He smelt exactly like Jellal but there was something different about this Jellal. Though Duke just kept it to himself and followed him in hopes he would be reunited with his master once more.

* * *

><p>Natsu, Wendy, Happy, and Carla were flying into Edolas. When they got there they were greeted by a peaceful scenery but that didn't make Carla feel any better. She was holding something back that the others didn't know about. Meanwhile Happy was enjoying seeing were he had come from.<p>

The fire mage however was trying to enjoy the place but he couldn't get Lucy and Duke off of his mind. Sure he wanted to find everyone else too but he was more concerned about them. Duke was strong enough to help Lucy and Lucy could take care of herself but he wasn't there to know that. He wasn't there to know that she was safe. He wasn't there to know if she was hurt. This scared him to no ends and gave him all the more reason to find them.

Happy could tell what Natsu was thinking and felt the same. He knew his friend was in love with Lucy, not to mention Natsu finally told him and Duke that he was. He felt sorry for Natsu because all of this happened before he could even let her know. This all happened because of him and Carla. At least that was what Carla believed.

The group landed and began their search for their friends. Natsu tried to pick up Lucy's scent or even Duke's but he couldn't pin point them because of all the new smells around the place. Wendy couldn't find them either, so the group began walking again.

They walked around for what seemed like hours. Natsu was getting irritated with Carla because she kept blaming him for making a ruckus, though he didn't really care either. As long as he found his friends that's all that mattered.

As they walked further it Natsu noticed a lot of people were freaked out by them. Though he couldn't understand why either. When they came across what looked like a tree house Carla suggested that they find clothes for disguises. They rummaged through the house and were able to find some clothes for themselves.

Happy found a helmet to put on along with some other pieces of clothing. Carla dressed looking almost like a belly dancer. Wendy found a skirt and a red shirt with a yellow bow. Natsu was able to find a different shirt and pants along with a red cover. While they were there in the house he noticed something through the window.

When he looked out he immediately recognized the symbol hanging. It was the Fairy Tail insignia. He quickly turned to the others.

"Hey guys look it's the Fairy Tail guild!" he said excitedly.

The fire mage then raced out with Wendy close behind, leaving the two cats behind to catch up. Carla and Happy were running after them, Happy was trying to run but complained that his outfit was too heavy.

When they got inside, Natsu was relieved to see them all okay. Now he was in a desperate search to find Duke and Lucy. Though he couldn't see them anywhere.

"No something is wrong here." Carla said to them.

Natsu looked back at her confused but didn't have time to argue as they pulled him down to hide under a table. He looked around and didn't seem to think anything was strange but he played along, hoping to find Lucy and Duke while doing so.

As they watched though Natsu finally saw what the white cat was hinting at. He saw Juvia and noticed she was dressed strangely but didn't think much of it. However her actions was what threw him off.

"I'm taking a request." She said as she was about to leave.

"Alright take care." Someone told her.

The next thing was what really convinced Natsu that there was something wrong.

"Juvia won't you take me with you!" Gray said to her.

"You're such a wet blanket and would it kill ya to take some clothes off once in a while?" She said.

Natsu was shocked Juvia never acted like that let alone did Gray ever ask her anything like this. When he looked over to him he was thrown for a loop when he saw how he was dressed. He was wearing what had to be at least twenty layers of clothes.

"I just get really cold." He whispered.

"Call me when you get a summer wardrobe." She said leaving.

This was horribly wrong. This wasn't his Fairy Tail. This wasn't his home. Lucy then shot back into his mind as he was trying to find her and her wolf again. Everything was wrong, it was completely the opposite of their guild. Cana wasn't drinking at all. Elfman was being hassled by Jet and Droy about not being a man.

As they were watching they didn't hear someone walk up to them until it was too late.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing sneaking around our guild like this?" she asked assertively.

Natsu's eyes widened when he saw her. This definitely wasn't his Lucy but oddly enough this Lucy still made his heart pound.

"Luce." He whispered when he saw her.

"What did you call me?" she asked with anger in her voice.

Natsu then stood up and looked her in the eye. This may not be his Lucy but she was still Lucy no matter what. Which meant that Duke was around here somewhere, the Edolas one at that. Which meant that maybe he would be able to track down Lucy, Duke and the others.

"I'll tell you what we're doing here but first you have to tell me where your Duke is." Natsu told her.

What Natsu didn't know was that he hit a touchy subject for the Edolas Lucy. When he looked back at her he saw sadness in his eyes and that's when another figure entered the guild. He looked over and saw himself, or at least the Edolas version.

"Why are you asking me that when you know what happened to him!?" she yelled with both anger and sadness mixed together in her voice.

"Lucy I have no idea what happened because I'm not from here." Natsu tried to explain.

A gentle voice then came into the mix.

"I think he's telling the truth…" the voice said with nervousness in it.

They looked to find the Edolas Natsu standing there. He looked over to his Lucy and back to the Natsu from Earthland. Once Edolas Lucy realized what was going on she looked at Natsu with sad eyes but tried to cover it up.

"He's gone alright." She said drly.

"What do you mean gone!" Natsu yelled at her.

"They took him…" Edolas Natsu replied.

"What?" Natsu asked confused.

"They took Duke away alright! Duke is gone because I was too weak to protect him!" she shouted.

She then turned her head down.

"The king has him and I may never see him again." She said in a whisper.

Natsu stared in shock. No he wouldn't allow for this. Even if this was Edolas Duke they were talking about it was still Duke to him. He looked at Edolas Lucy.

"Tell me what happened from start to finish. Then we'll tell you why we are here."

**That is all for this chapter. I hope you guys liked this chapter and don 't forget to leave a review! Also if you haven't yet and you enjoy the story please fav/follow. Thank you guys so much for reading my stories it means a lot to me! Until next time guys!**

**~wolvesfinalden**


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